imismm  "B5535 
*£5 


.^_ 


Wit  #  humor 


OF     THE 


*     * 


'■''>-  *  '     ♦ 


Bible. 


A  LITERARY  STUDY. 


Rev.  Marion  1).  Shutter,  D.  D. 


Bibles  laid  open;    millions  of  surprises.  "  — Herbert. 


BOSTON,   MASS., 

Brena  publishing  Company, 

COPLEY   BQUABE. 

1893. 


COPYRIGHT,  189*, 

BY 

MARION  I).  SHUTTER. 

AH  rights  reserved. 


^Rren^Pres^ 


BeMcatton. 

To    MV  WIFE, 

Mart  Wilkinson*  Shutter. 


PREFACE. 

While  "  many  have  taken  in  hand  to  set  forth  in  order" 
the  pathos  and  sublimity  of  the  "Bible,  those  literary  elements 
comprised  under  the  title  of  this  book  have  rarely  been 
mentioned.  Feeling  that  here  was  afield  untraversed,  the 
author  of  this  little  volume  began  an  investigation  whose 
results  were  originally  embodied  in  an  article  published 
some  years  ago  in  an  Eastern  review.  That  article  is  given 
in  "  Poole's  Index  "  as  the  only  one  extant  upon  the  subject. 
Since  its  publication,  additional  study  has  brought  to  light 
other  examples  of  the  use  of  Wit  and  Humor  by  the  writers 
of  the  Bible.  These  later  results  were  embodied  in  a  course 
of  lectures  delivered  last  winter  before  the  students  of 
Lombard  University,  Galesbnrg,  111.  They  are  now  given  to 
the  public  in  the  present  volume.  It  would  be  presumptuous 
to  claim  that  these  few  pages  exhaust  the  subject.  Such  a 
claim  the  author  does  not  wish  to  make.  Further  research 
would  no  doubt  bring  to  light  instances  that  have  escaped 
him.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  these  studies  may  be 
sufficiently  complete  to  awaken  interest  in  a  long-neglected 
side  of  our  sacred  literature. 

MARION'   1).   SHUTTER. 


Minneapolis,  Minn.,  Dec. 24,  1892. 
First  Universalist  Church. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

"There  is  still  one  question  before,  us.  If  humor  be 
what  Ave  have  claimed  for  it,  not  a  mere  farce,  but  the 
depicting  of  the  whole  of  human  life,  then  we  should 
expect  that  the  highest  literature  should  be  found  to 
contain  it.  We  should  expect  to  find  it  everywhere; 
that  it  should  satisfy  all  that  desire  which  a  reading  in 
theology,  or  philosophy,  or  science,  or  history,  or  a  study 
in  art,  has  created  in  man.  Are  there,  then,  any  great 
books,  or  still  more  any  great  forces  in  human  life  which 
seem  devoid  of  it  ?  Is  there  any  humor  in  the  gospels  ? 
This  is  a  dilemma  that  must  be  faced  ;  for  if  humor  be 
life  itself,  how  can  human  life  in  its  highest  development 
dispense  with  it?" — Shorthouse. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

"Even  St.  Paul  could  invent  and  enjoy  a  humorous  pun  ; 
the  proof  of  which  see  Galatians  V:  12,  in  the  original;  so 
there  is  high  authority  for  jesting." — Kirke. 

The  title  of  this  book  will  no  doubt  affect 
many  persons  unpleasantly  at  first.  "Flat 
blasphemy !  "  I  can  hear  some  one  exclaim, 
w  AVe  have  already  had  the  authority  of  the 
Bible  undermined  by  critics,  and  here  is  a 
flippant  rogue  who  goes  still  farther,  and 
assures  us  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  a 
jest-book!  This  is  the  very  climax  and  cul- 
mination of  godless  folly." 

The  author  makes  haste,  therefore,  to 
disclaim  any  intention  of  irreverence.  To 
cheapen  or  degrade  sacred  things,  to 
"depreciate  the  moral  currency,"  is  at  the 
farthest  remove  from  his  intention.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  take  the  language  of  Scripture 
and  use  it  for  coarse  and  vulgar  purposes, 
and  such  use  deserves  the  severest  censure. 
Tt  is  not  to  be   tolerated.      Passages   that 

(i) 


2  trait  an£>  t)umor  of  tbe  JSible. 

have  been  light  and  guidance  to  multitudes, 
that  have  brought  strength  to  the  tempted, 
certainty  to  the  doubting  and  consolation  to 
the  bereaved;  that  have  heenbreadof  life 
to  those  who  have  hungered  for  righteous- 
ness, inspiration  to  the  purposeless  and  help 
to  the  needy,  —  have  been  turned  into 
sources  of  merriment  to  freshen  exhausted 
wit,  and  season  the  insipid  discourse  of 
stupidity.  Persons  whose  brains  are  barren 
of  pleasant  conceits  find  no  difficulty  in  so 
perverting  a  Scriptural  expression  as  to 
make  the  "groundlings"  laugh.  In  no  such 
motives  has  this  volume  originated.  The 
title  has  been  chosen  and  the  work  which  it 
covers  has  been  done  in  the  spirit  of  one 
who  loves  the  Great  Book,  and  who  would 
secure  for  it  an  additional  claim  upon  human 
affection.  The  studies  of  the  writer  have 
led  him  into  fresh  fields  and  pastures  green, 
where  he  has  gathered  many  things  out  of 
the  ordinary  that  have  given  the  Bible  a 
larger  place  in  his  own  heart. 

Nbj  the  Bible  is  not  a  collection  of  jests; 
nor  do  we  characterize  it  as  a  jest-book  when 
we   say  that    it    contains  Wit  and  Humor. 


fntrobuctors.  3 

These  elements  are  in  the  Bible,  and  with 
good  reason.  They  are  not  introduced  to 
amuse.  They  are  not  intended  to  dissipate 
the  weariness  of  an  idle  hour.  They  are  not 
designed  to  produce  convulsions  of  laugh- 
ter. They  are  subsidiary  to  the  main  theme. 
They  are  incidental  to  the  development  of 
religious  history  and  religious  thought. 
They  help  reveal  in  their  true  light  the 
characters  who  from  time  to  time  appear; 
they  show  the  absurdity  of  the  opposing 
error  and  sharpen  the  arrows  with  which 
folly  is  transfixed.  They  enhance  in  many 
ways  the  value  and  power  of  our  Sacred 
Book. 

I. 

The  Scripture  documents  may  be  viewed 
from  several  standpoints;  —  historical,  ex- 
egetical,  theological  and  literary.  One  may, 
for  example,  study  the  book  of  Job  to  find 
out  the  actual  basis  of  fact  that  underlies  it, 
or  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and  sys- 
tematizing its  doctrines,  or  he  may  read  it  as 
a  great  dramatic  poem,  and  criticize  it  by 
the    rules  that    would   apply   to   any    other 


4  lixatt  anfc  f)umot  of  tbe  Bible. 

dramatic    poem.       He     may     go     through 

the  Apocalypse,  grammar  and  lexicon  in 
hand,  or  he  may  study  its  flashing  imagery 
as  he  would  that  of  any  other  magnificent 
work  of  genius.  He  may  read  the  Psalms 
as  he  "would  the  odes  of  Horace.  In  these 
pages  the  Scriptures  are  considered  simply 
as  Literature.  The  question  of  inspiration 
or  authority  does  not  enter.  Doctrinal  in- 
quiries are  set  aside.  'f  To  understand," 
says  Matthew  Arnold,  f'  that  the  language 
of  the  Bible  is  fluid,  passing,  literary,  is  the 
first  step  towards  a  right  understanding  of 
the  Bible:' 

The  literary  character  of  the  Bible  is 
admirably  set  forth  in  the  following  para- 
graph from  a  recent  critic : 

4 'As  a  particular  book,  the  Bible  is  an  unequaled 
source  of  literary  inspiration.  As  a  book  of  religious 
truth,  it  is  supreme  ;  but  religious  truth,  without  any  im- 
pairment of  its  value  or  obscurity  of  its  meaning,  may  be 
studied  from  the  literary  standpoint  ;  in  fact,  in  the  light 
of  literary  criticism,  or  tested  by  the  usual  canons  of  the 
scholar,  it  will  appear  more  sacred,  more  beautiful,  more 
divine.  Never  forgetting  that  it  is  our  manual  of  religion, 
it  is  also  the  vehicle  of  the  most  wonderful  literature  in 
human  annals,   and    precedes    in  importance  all   others. 


Introductory.  5 

There  is  no  book  so  composite  in  character  and  yet  so 
harmonious  in  plan,  so  multiplex  in  styles  and  yet  so 
educational  in  rhetoric  and  logic,  so  varied  in  contents 
and  yet  so  progressive  in  its  philosophy  and  religion,  as 
the  Bible.  Taken  as  a  whole,  it  is  massive,  comprehen- 
sive, a  revelation  of  the  Infinite.  Studied  in  its  parts,  it 
stimulates  single  faculties  while  it  ministers  nourishment 
to  the  whole  frame.  Its  histories  are  more  compact  than 
those  of  Herodotus,  Gibbon  or  Macaulay ;  its  poetry, 
whose  key  is  a  mystery,  quiets  Homer,  Shakespeare  and 
Tennyson  ;  its  prophecies  are  unique  climaxes  of  wisdom, 
both  in  drapery  and  substance ;  its  biographies  excel 
those  of  Plutarch,  Irving,  Carlyle  and  Boswell ;  its 
chronicles  of  wars  are  superior  to  those  of  Julius  Caesar, 
Wellington,  Napoleon,  and  Ulysses  Grant;  its  epistles 
eclipse  those  of  Pliny,  Madame  Sevigne  and  Francis 
Bacon;  its  laws,  in  their  ethical  and  spiritual  import,  are 
quite  beyond  Justinian,  Blackstone  and  the  English 
Parliament.  Every  phasis  of  literature,  every  norm  of 
wisdom,  is  in  the  Bible.  It  ministers  to  all  tastes  and 
arouses  the  slumbering  intellects  of  all  who  can  compre- 
hend the  difference  between  reality  and  fiction,  and  who 
incline  to  virtue  rather  than  vice.  Ruskin  confesses  his 
indebtedness  to  the  Bible,  Homer  and  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
for  his  mental  discipline  ;  Charles  Keade  pronounces  the 
characters  in  Scripture  a  literary  marvel.  Matthew 
Arnold  daily  read  the  New  Testament  in  Greek  for  its 
stvle  ;  Milton  could  not  have  written  Paradise  Lost  with- 
out Genesis  ;  Renan'a  witchery  of  style  i-  traceable  to  the 
New  Testament.      Job    has   taught   the   poets    the   art    of 


6  mit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbc  .Bible. 

construction,  and  David  has  sung  an  undying  melody  into 
the  ears  of  the  race.  The  Book  of  Ruth  is  the  model 
idyl,  and  the  Books  of  Esther  and  Daniel  abound  in  in- 
comparable dramatic  elements  ;  Isaiah  has  plumed  the 
statesman  for  oratorical  flights  ;  Jeremiah  has  opened  the 
fountains  of  pathos  and  sentiment  in  pathetic  souls ; 
Ezekiel  has  furnished  a  usable  style  of  judicial  denuncia- 
tion for  the  criminal  lawyer.  Of  all  books,  whether 
rhetoric,  logic,  vocabulary,  poetry,  philosophy,  history, 
or  whatever  be  the  end,  the  Bible  should  be  first  and 
most  carefully  studied,  its  literary  spirit  and  form  should 
be  closely  traced  and  discerned,  and  its  truth  should  be 
reverently  incorporated  into  the  daily  speech,  thought  and 
life." 

But  in  this  summary  there  is  no  mention 
made  of  the  literary  qualities  which  it  is 
here  proposed  to  consider.  They  are  as 
completely  ignored  as  if  the  very  sugges- 
tion of  their  presence  were  profanation. 


II. 


The  presumption  is  that  in  such  a  book, 
or  rather  collection  of  books  as  the  Bible, 
the  elements  of  Wit  and  Humor  would  be 
found.  We  have  here  the  best  historical, 
poetical,  and  moral  works  of  a  whole  peo- 


fntroftuctorg.  7 

pie.  These  documents  cover  in  time  more 
than  a  millennium  and  a  half.  It  is  more 
than  probable  that  during  that  time  amus- 
ing incidents  occurred,  even  in  connection 
with  the  religious  trend  of  the  history,  some 
of  which  would  be  reported;  that  grotesque 
and  odd  characters  existed,  some  of  whom 
would  be  described,  and  their  sayings  and 
doings  noted;  that  among  the  moral  teach- 
ers of  the  people,  there  were  some  at  least, 
who  would  point  their  precepts  with  wit 
and  edge  their  rebukes  with  sarcasm.  We 
should  expect  to  find  all  these  thin--. 
as  we  should  expect  to  find  pathos  or  sub- 
limity. The  humorous  is  just  as  legitimate 
in  literature  and  quite  as  much  an  element 
of  influence.  It  glows  in  all  the  other  great 
books  which  have  shaped  the  life  and 
thought  of  mankind;  and  it  is  only  fair  to 
presume  that  we  shall  find  its  light  shining 
from  those  pages  that  have  been  most 
potent  of  all. 

But  is  not  "the  volume  of  this  book"  a 
serious  one?  Is  it  not  profoundly  in  ear- 
nest? Are  not  its  themes  most  solemn? 
Is  not  its  purpose  the  highest  under  heaven, 


8  uw  an&  fmmot  of  tbe  ftiblc. 

the  most  important  t<>  the  inhabitants  of 
earth?  The  conclusion,  however,  that  the 
questioner  has  in  mind  is  by  no  means 
inevitable.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
humor  is  incompatible  with  seriousness,  ear- 
nestness and  solemnity.  "As  in  one  of  my 
lectures,"  says  Henry  Reed,  'T  spoke  of 
attempting  to  draw  too  precise  a  line 
around  sacred  literature,  making  it  too 
much  a  tiling  apart,  so  in  regard  to  the 
literature  of  wit  and  humor.  I  shall  he 
very  sorry,  if  such  a  title  as  that  which  I 
have  been  obliged  to  use,  led  any  one  to 
think  of  it  as  of  a  more  distinctive  exist- 
ence than  is  the  case,  instead  of  regarding 
those  faculties  as  pervading  the  literature 
in  various  degrees,  and  thus  forming  some 
of  the  elements  of  its  life.  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  trace  these  elements  in  close 
connection  with  elements  of  tragedy,  and 
to  show  how  the  processes  we  generalize 
under  the  names  of  wit  and  humor  are  kin- 
dred with  the  most  intense  passion  and  the 
deepest  feeling." 

In  human  nature,  the  sources  of  laughter 
and  tears  lie  close  together,  and  the  high- 


Introductory  9 

est  literature  must  express  that  nature  in 
its  entirety.  "It  is  an  understood  fact," 
says  Whipple,  "that  mirth  is  as  innate  in 
the  mind  as  any  other  original  faculty. 
The  absence  of  it  in  individuals  or  commu- 
nities is  a  defect."  "He  who  laughs,"  says 
the  mother  of  Goethe,  "can  commit  no 
deadly  sin."  If  it  be  true  as  Whipple  says, 
that  the  absence  of  mirth  in  individuals  or 
communities  is  a  defect,  then  is  the  absence 
of  it  in  literature  likewise  a  defect.  It  is 
a  defect  because  the  literature  which  omits 
it  fails  to  set  forth  all  that  there  is  in  man. 
It  leaves  an  important  territory  unexplored. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  literature  which 
is  designed  to  move  and  mold  men  must  be 
addressed  to  human  nature  in  its  complete- 
ness. Freighted  with  destiny,  charged  with 
eternity  as  are  the  messages  of  the  Bible, 
they  are  yet  intended  to  impress  men ;  they 
are  addressed  to  human  faculties  in  human 
speech.  Whatever  the  capacities  of  lan- 
guage for  touching  the  heart  and  operating 
upon  the  will,  they  may  all  be  employed, 
though  the  theme  soar  to  heaven  or  take 
hold  on  hell.     The  Bible  is  not  an  instru- 


1 0  -emit  an<>  Ibumor  of  tbc  JGible. 

ment  of  a  single  string;  it  gives  forth  a 
thonsand  harmonies.  It  is  attuned  to  every 
note  in  human  nature. 

III. 

Thus  far  we  have  simply  dealt  with  the 
presumption.  The  considerations  advanced 
show  us  what  we  might  expect  to  find. 
When  we  proceed  from  presumption  to 
actual  investigation,  our  conjectures  are 
verified.  There  are  certainly  passages  in 
the  Bible  which  in  any  other  writings  Ave 
should  call  "Wit  and  Humor.  Since  this  is 
the  case,  our  discussion  is  legitimate,  how- 
ever repugnant  the  very  suggestion  may  be 
to  the  feelings  with  which  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  regard  the  Bible. 

Let  us  take  some  examples.  If  we  found 
in  any  other  book  such  a  saving  as  this, 
tf  Dead  flies  cause  the  ointment  of  the 
apothecary  to  send  forth  a  stinking  savor, 
so  doth  a  little  folly  him  that  is  in  great 
reputation  for  wisdom  and  honor,"  should 
we  not  call  it  witty?  Is  it  not  witty  as  the 
"Russian  proverb  "A  spoonful  of  tar  in  a 
barrel  of  honey?" 


Introductory.  n 

Or  consider  such  sentences  as  the  follow- 
ing: "All  the  labor  of  a  man  is  for  his 
mouth,  and  yet  his  appetite  is  not  filled.1' 
"As  lie  that  taketh  away  a  garment  in  cold 
weather,  and  as  vinegar  upon  nitre,  so  is  he 
that  singeth  songs  to  a  heavy  heart." 
"Bread  of  deceit  is  sweet  to  a  man,  but 
afterwards  his  mouth  shall  be  filled  with 
gravel/'  "  He  that  answereth  a  matter 
before  he  heareth  it,  it  is  folly  and  shame 
unto  him."  "A  man  of  great  wrath  shall 
suffer  punishment ;  for  if  thou  deliver  him, 
yet  must  thou  do  it  again."  In  other  words, 
a  man  of  violent  temper  is  always  getting 
into  difficulties;  you  have  no  sooner  helped 
him  out  of  one  than  he  madly  plunges  into 
another.  Like  the  irascible  person  in  the 
old  nursery  rhyme,  who  jumped  into  a 
bramble  bush  and  scratched  out  both  his 
eyes,  he  is  no  sooner  extricated,  than 
"with  all  his  might  and  main,  he  jumps 
into  another  bush  and  puts  them  out 
again."  "  Can  a  man  take  fire  in  his  bosom 
and  his  clothes  not  be  burned?  Can 
he  go  upon  hot  coals  and  his  feet  not  be 
burned?"     "Wealth    makes  many    friends. 


12  •unit  and  Ibumor  of  tbe  .ifitblc. 

but  the  poor  is  separated  from  his  neighbor." 
"He  that  passeth  by   and   meddleth   with 

strife  belonging  not  to  him,  is  like  one 
that  taketh  a  dog  by  the  ears."  If  Ave  came 
upon  such  sentences  in  Johnson  or  Gold- 
smith, we  should  say  in  a  moment  that 
they  were  instances  of  genuine  wit.  Let  us 
not  hesitate  to  carry  the  same  frankness  of 
literary  judgment  to  the  Bible.  When 
Isaiah  characterizes  certain  ones  as  "  mighty 
to  drink  wine  and  men  of  strength  to  mingle 
strong  drink,"  does  he  not  use  essentially 
the  same  reproach  that  Prince  Hal  fastened 
upon  Falstaff,  "  Wherein  is  he  good  but  to 
taste  sack  and  drink  it?"  Who  shall  say 
that  the  earlier  satire  did  not  suggest  the 
later?  Much  has  been  written  about  Shake- 
speare's indebtedness  to  the  Bible. 

Here  is  a  passage  of  biting  sarcasm  from 
Job.  We  should  surely  call  it  sarcasm  if 
Ave  found  it  in  the  pages  of  Robert  South. 
Job  is  expressing  his  scorn  for  those  who 
affect  to  look  doAvn  upon  him  in  his  adver- 
sities: "But  uoav  they  that  are  younger 
than  I  have  me  in  derision,  Avhose  fathers  I 
would  have  disdained  to  set  with  the  dogs  of 


Introductory.  18 

my  Hock."  They  are  "the  children  of  fools, 
yea,  children  of  base  men,  they  were  viler 
than  the  earth."  (We  have  an  equivalent 
expression  in  "meaner  than  dirt.")  They  arc 
members  of  the  long-eared  fraternity.  He 
docs  not  say  so  in  the  bluntest  form  of  ex- 
pression that  can  he  used,  and  that  any  one 
less  skillful  would  have  used.  Job  jouts  it 
much  more  effectively :  w  Among  the  bushes 
they  brayed;  under  the  nettles  they  were 
gathered  together.''  r  If  that  is  not  wit,"  says 
one,  "there  is  no  such  thing  as  wit.  And 
yet  the  commentators  do  not  see  it,  or  will 
not  see  it.  They  are  perfectly  wooden 
when  they  come  to  any  such  gleam  of 
humor." 

There  is  a  bit  of  ridicule  in  Jeremiah  that 
we  should  be  quick  to  call  ridicule,  if  we 
came  upon  it  elsewhere.  He  is  describing 
the  disasters  that  fell  upon  the  allies  of 
the  King  of  Egypt.  "  ^Vhy  are  the  strong 
ones  swept  away?  They  stood  not  because 
the  Lord  did  thrust  them  down.  He  made 
them  to  stumble,  yea  they  fell  one  upon 
another;  and  they  said,  Arise,  and  let  us  go 
again  to  our  own  people,  and  to  the  land  of 


14  m\t  and  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

our  nativity,  from  the  oppressing  sword." 
They  are  defeated  in  spite  of  all  the 
promises  of  the  King  of  Egypt.  He  does 
not  seem  to  avail  them.  His  boasts  arc  in- 
effectual. His  disgusted  allies  depart, 
flinging  at  him  the  withering  reproach, 
n  Pharoah,  King  of  Egyijt,  is  out  a  noise; 
he  hath  let  the  appointed  time  pass  by." 
That  is  to  say,  according  to  one  paraphrase, 
w  Pharoah  is  of  no  account  now,  he  has  had 
his  chance  and  lost  it;  he  has  outlived  his 
influence;  his  day  is  over;  he  is  not  a  sov- 
ereign any  longer;  he  is  only  a  noise."  Or 
as  Matthew  Henry  puts  it,  "Pharoah  can 
hector  and  talk  big;  but  that  is  all;  all  his 
promises  vanish  into  smoke."  In  the  same 
spirit,  Queen  Catherine  says  of  the  dead 
Wolsey, 

"  His  promise  was  as  lie  then  was,  mighty  ; 
But  his  performance,  as  lie  now  is,  nothing." 

If  we  found  a  little  sketch  like  the  fol- 
lowing in  Thackeray,  we  should,  beyond 
doubt,  pronounce  it  humorous:  "All  the 
brethren  of  the  poor  do  hate  him;  how 
much  more  do  his  friends  go  far  from  him. 


fntroftuctotg.  15 

He  pursueth  them  with  words,  yet  are  they 
wanting'  to  him."  The  words  of  a  poor  man 
can  not  travel  fast  enough  to  overtake  his 
rich  friends  and  neighbors.  Indeed,  Thack- 
eray has  drawn  such  a  picture  in  his  more 
elaborate  description  of  Harry  Warrington 
in  the  sponging-house,  making  vain  appeals 
for  help  to  his  rich  relatives  and  friends. 
rf  lie  pursued  them  with  words,  yet  were  they 
wanting  to  him."  His  aunt,  —  "a  member 
of  the  great  and  always  established  Church 
of  the  Pharisees,  sent  him  her  blessing, — 
and  a  tract!" 

If  we  found,  in  any  modern  literature,  a 
sketch  of  the  ruling  deacon  in  a  church,  like 
John's  description  of  Diotrephus,  we  should 
say  it  was  tinged  with  satire.  "I  wrote 
unto  the  Church,  but  Diotrephus,  tvho  lov- 
eth  to  have  the  pre-eminence  among  them, 
receiveth  us  not.  Wherefore  if  I  come,  I 
will  remember  his  deeds  which  he  doeth, 
prating  against  us  with  malicious  words; 
and  not  content  therewith,  neither  doth  he 
himself  receive  the  brethren,  and  forbiddeth 
them  that  would,  and  casteth  them  out  of  the 
Church."     Evidently   there  was    a    deacon 


1,;  Ulit  an&  Ibumor  of  the  JBible. 

in  one  of  the  apostolic  churches,  who  always 
had  to  be  consulted.  Everything  must  go 
as  he  dictated.  He  did  not  even  stand  in 
awe  of  an  accredited  apostle.  The  minister 
must  preach  according  to  his  views  of  the- 
ology, or  signify  his  willingness  to  accept 
a  call  to  a  new  field.  Those  members  of  the 
church  who  upheld  a  minister  whom  Dio- 
trephus  did  not  like,  found  their  connection 
with  the  body  severed  without  the  formality 
of  asking  their  consent.  In  the  matter  of 
having  a  Diotrephus  within  their  borders, 
some  churches  to-day  find  themselves  in  the 
direct  line  of  apostolic  succession. 

In  the  book  of  .Vets,  there  is  an  account 
of  Paul's  reception  at  Athens.  "And  they 
took  him  and  brought  him  unto  Areopagus, 
saying,  May  we  know  what  this  new  doc- 
trine is,  whereof  thou  speakest?  For  thou 
bringest  certain  strange  things  to  our  ears; 
we  would  know,  therefore,  what  these 
things  mean."  In  the  comment  which  fol- 
lows this  account,  the  writer  indulges  in  a 
touch  of  ridicule  upon  the  Athenian  gossips 
and  curiosity  mongers.  We  should  say  it 
was   a  touch  of  ridicule  if  we  found  it  in 


Introductory.  17 

Addison.  "For  all  the  Athenians  and 
strangers  which  were  there,  spent  their  time 
in  nothing  else,  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear 
some  new  thing  "  Indeed  there  is  a  sketch 
in  Addison  of  which  this  might  easily  have 
been  the  ground-work.  "There  is  no  humor 
of  my  countrymen  which  I  am  more  inclined 
to  wonder  at  than  their  general  thirst  after 
ni  ws.  X  victory  or  defeat  is  equally  agree- 
able to  them.  The  shutting  of  a  cardinal's 
mouth  pleaseth  them  one  post,  and  the 
opening  of  it  another.  They  are  delighted 
to  hear  the  French  Court  is  removed  to 
Marli,  and  are  afterwards  as  much  delighted 
with  its  return  to  Versailles.  They  read 
the  advertisements  with  the  same  curiosity 
as  the  articles  of  public  news;  and  are  as 
pleased  to  hear  of  a  pye-bald  horse  that 
is  strayed  out  of  a  field  near  Islington,  as  of 
a  whole  troop  that  has  been  engaged  in  any 
foreign  adventure.  In  short,  they  have  a 
relish  for  anything  that  is  neivs,  let  the  mat- 
ter of  it  be  what  it  will.  They  are  men  of 
a  roracious  appetite."  Is  not  the  comment 
of  the  Scriptural  writer  upon  the  Athenians 


18  "CCltt  an&  tbumor  of  tbe  JGible. 

in  the  same  vein  with   Addison's   comment 
upon  the  English? 

Isaiah  rebukes  those  "who  call  evil  good 
and  good  evil;  who  put  darkness  for  light 
and  light  for  darkness;  who  put  bitter  for 
sweet  and  sweet  for  bitter,"  —  thus  eon  fus- 
ing moral  distinctions.  This  is  the  same 
sort  of  sophistry  that  Addison  exposes,  in 
his  gentle  way,  by  proposing  the  follow- 
ing form  of  agreement:  "We  whose  names 
are  hereunto  subscribed,  do  solemnly  de- 
clare that  Ave  do  in  our  consciences  believe 
that  two  and  two  make  four;  and  that  Ave 
shall  adjudge  any  man  whatever  to  be 
our  enemy  who  endeavors  to  persuade  us 
to  the  contrary.  We  are  likewise  ready 
to  maintain,  with  the  hazard  of  all  that 
is  near  and  dear  to  us,  that  six  is  less 
than  seATen  in  all  times  and  at  all  places; 
and  that  ten  aa  ill  not  be  more  three  years 
hence  than  it  is  at  present.  We  do  also 
firmly  declare  that  it  is  our  resolution  as  long- 
as  avc  live  to  call  Black  black  and  White 
white.  And  we  shall  upon  all  occasion* 
oppose  such  persons  that  upon  any  dan  of 
the  year  shall  call  Black  white   or    W1tit<j 


Introductory.  ''•' 

black,  "'if//  tin  nt most  of  our  lives  and  for^ 
tunes."  The  rebuke,  in  both  cases,  is  the 
same. 

IV. 

What  do  these  illustrations  show?  f?  That 
the  Bible  is,  on  the  whole,  a  humorous 
book?  Far  from  it.  That  religion  is  a 
humorous  subject?  that  Ave  are  to  throw  all 
the  wit  Ave  can  into  the  treatment  of  it?  No. 
But  they  show  that  the  sense  of  the  ludi- 
crous is  put  into  man  by  his  Maker;  that  it 
has  its  uses ;  that  Ave  are  not  to  be  ashamed 
of  it;  "  that  Ave  are  not  to  be  horrified  at  the 
mention  of  it  in  connection  Avith  things  we 
deem  most  sacred.  They  sIioav  that  the 
literature  of  the  Bible  contains  the  same  ele- 
ments that  in  any  other  literature  Ave  call  Wit 
and  Humor.  They  show  us,  also,  that  Ayit  and 
humor  do  not  of  necessity  produce  hearty 
laughter  or  boisterous  mirth;  not  always  do 
they  manifest  themselves  in  "gihes  and 
gambols  and  flashes  of  merriment  that  set 
the  table  in  a  roar/'  Those,  therefore,  avIio 
may  expect  something  in  these  chapters 
that  will  shake  one's  sides  with  jollity,   or 


20  -mix  an£  Ibumer  of  tbe  3Biblc. 

make  him  Klaugh  till  his  face  be  like  a  wet 
cloak  ill  laid  up,"  will  doubtless  be  disap- 
pointed. Wit  and  humor  often  lie  too  deep 
for  laughter,  as  pathos  often  lies  too  dee]) 
for  tears. 

No  attempt  is  here  made  at  exact  defini- 
tion of  the  two  words  that  are  prominent  in 
the  general  title  of  this  hook.  Perhaps  after 
they  have  passed  through  their  final  analysis 
we  shall  not  he  any  wiser  than  before  we 
casl  them  into  the  alembic.  Barrow  says  of 
Humor:  ""It  is  a  thing  so  versatile  and 
multiform  that  it  seems  no  less  hard  to  settle 
a  clear  and  certain  notion  thereof,  than  to 
make  a  portrait  of  Proteus  or  to  define  the 
figure  of  the  fleeting*  air."  We  usually 
include  under  the  general  term  all  forms  of 
pleasantly,  grotesqueness,  drollery,  sarcasm, 
irony,  ridicule.  Our  common  acceptation 
shall  serve  us  in  these  studies. 

"  There  are  many  things,"  says  Prof. 
Matthews,  "that  definition  heljjs  us  to  un- 
derstand, but  there  are  other  things  that  we 
understand  better  than  Ave  can  any  possible 
definition  of  them;  among  these  are  the 
cold,  sparkling,  mercurial  thing  we  call  wit, 


Introductory.  21 

and  that  genial, juicy,  unconscious  thing  we 
call  lmiiK >r/' 

With  these  preliminary  observations,  we 
proceed  to  examine  the  subject  in  detail: 

••  Are  there  not  two  points  in  the  adventure  of  the  diver? 
One  when  a  beggar  he  prepares  to  plunge  ; 
The  other  when  a  prince  he  rises  with  his  pearl  ? 
Festus,  I  plunge." 


II.     CHARACTER    SKETCHES. 

Now,  by  two-headed  Janus, 

Nature  hath  framed  strange  fellows  in  her  time  ; 

Some  that  will  evermore  peep  through  their  eyes, 

And  laugh  like  parrots  at  a  bag-piper  ; 

And  other  of  such  vinegar  aspect, 

That  they'll  not  show  their  teeth  by  way  of  smile, 

Tho'  Nestor  swore  the  jest  were  laughable." — 

Merchant  of  Venice. 


<2t) 


CHARACTER    SKETCHES. 

-•  With  whal  prudence  does  the  Son  of  Sirach  caution  us 
in  the  choice  of  our  friends.  And  with  what  strokes  of 
Nature,  (I  could  almost  say  of  Humour,)  has  he  described 
the  behavior  of  a  treacherous  and  self-interested  friend  !  " — 
A  <]<UsGn. 

fPTiiE  history  of  the  ancient  Hebrews," 
says  (leorge  Eliot,  "gives  the  idea  of  a 
people  who  went  about  their  business  and 
their  pleasures  as  gravely  as  a  society  of 
beavers;  the  smile  and  laugh  are  often  men- 
tioned metaphorically;  but  the  smile  is  one 
of  complacency,  the  laugh  of  scorn." 

Against  the  authority  of  so  illustrious  a 
name,  the  writer  of  these  pages  confesses  a 
somewhat  different  impression.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  believe  that  such  sentiments  as  the 
following  could  have  arisen  among  a  people 
whose  only  smile  was  that  of  complacency, 
whose  only  laughter  that  of  scorn: 

"He  that  is  of  a  merry  heart  hath  a  con- 
tinual feast." 

(25) 


26  iuit  an&  f)umot  of  tbe  .Bible. 

"A  merry  heart  maketh  a  cheerful  coun- 
tenance." 

WA  merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medi- 
cine." 

"do  thy  way;  eat  thy  bread  with  joy  and 
drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart." 

'rThe  voice  of  mirth,"  "the  voice  of  glad- 
ness" are  phrases  of  frequent  occurrence. 
The  ancient  Hebrews  believed  that  there 
was  a  r'time  to  laugh"  as  well  as  a  "time  to 
weep."  Grave  and  serious  as  they  were, 
there  must  have  been  in  them,  after  all, 
something  sunny  and  pleasant.  They  did 
not  find  the  heavens  forever  black  and  the 
earth  forever  cheerless. 

When  Ave  turn  to  the  historical  and  bio- 
graphical portions  of  Scripture,  we  find  here 
and  there  a  bit  of  quaint  ness  and  drollery 
in  pictures  of  life  and  delineations  of  char- 
acter that  must  have  brought  to  the  faces  of 
those  who  read  them  or  heard  them  smiles 
other  than  those  of  complacency;  that  must 
have  been  enjoyed  with  laughter  other  than 
that  of  scorn. 

Mr.  Shorthouse  says,  "Nature  and  humor 
do  not  lie  far  apart;  the  source  and  spring 


Character  SftetCbe*.  27 

of   humor  Is  human    life. Hie    essence 

of  humor,"  Carlyle  remarks,  "is  sensibility; 
warm,  tender  fellow-feeling  with  all  forms 
of  existence."  "The  man  of  humor,"  writes 
another  distinguished  critic,  "seeing  at  one 
glance  the  majestic  and  the  mean,  the  seri- 
ous and  the  laughable;  indeed,  interpreting 
what  Is  little  or  ridiculous  by  light  derived 
from  its  opposite  idea,  delineates  character 
as  lie  finds  it  in  life,  without  any  impertinent 
intrusion  of  his  own  indignation  or  ap- 
proval." 

The  writers  of  the  Bible  sketched  man- 
ners and  traits  as  they  found  them.  Their 
pencils  were  faithful  to  nature.  They 
reported  what  they  saw.  The  features 
which  provoke  the  smile,  as  well  as  those 
which  move  us  to  admire,  condemn  or  weep, 
are  pictured  on  their  canvas.  They  had  an 
eye  for  the  ludicrous  side  of  life,  as  well 
as  for  its  more  sober  aspects.  So  genial 
is  much  of  their  —  often  unconscious  — 
humor,  so  far  removed  from  bitterness  or 
scorn,  that  it  should  seem  as  if  Addison  and 
irving  might  have  drawn  some  of  their 
inspiration  from  these  old  Hebrews. 


-s  lUit  and  ibumor  of  tbe  ttfble. 

In  this  chapter  we  shal1 
trations  from  their  sketches  of  character. 

I. —  Abimelech. 

Iii  the  time  of  the  Judges  the  unprin- 
cipled Abimelech  contrived  to  have  himself 
proclaimed  king  in  Sheehem.  Knowing  his 
unfitness  for  the  throne,  and  vexed  at  his 
successful  machinations,  Jotham,  a  man 
of  ready  wit,  ridicules  the  pretensions  of 
the  monarch  and  the  folly  of  the  people, 
in  an  admirable  fable.  Addison  says: 
"Fables  were  the  first  pieces  of  wit  that 
made  their  appearance  in  the  world,  and 
have  been  still  highly  valued,  not  only  in 
times  of  the  greatest  simplicity,  but  among 
the  most  polite  ages  of  mankind.  Jotham's 
fable  of  the  Trees  is  the  oldest  that  is 
extant,  and  as  beautiful  as  any  that  have 
been  made  since  that  time." 

Perching  himself  upon  the  top  of  a  hill, 
that  his  parable  may  not  be  brought  to 
an  untimely  end,  he  speaks  to  the  multitude: 
"The  Trees  went  forth  on  a  time  to  anoint 
a    king   over   them.     And  they   said   to  the 


Character  Sftetcbes.  29 

Olive  Tree,  Reign  thou  over  us.  But  the 
Olive  Tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  leave 
my  fatness,  wherewith  by  me  they  honor 
God  and  men,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over 
the  Trees?  Then  said  the  Trees  unto  the 
Pig  Tree,  Come  thou  and  reign  over  us. 
But  the  Fig  Tree  said  unto  them.  Should  I 
forsake  my  sweetness  and  my  good  fruit, 
and  go  to  he  promoted  over  the  Trees? 
Then  said  the  Trees  unto  the  Vine,  Come 
thou  and  reign  over  us.  And  the  Vine  said 
unto  them,  Should  I  leave  my  wine  which 
cheereth  God  and  Man,  and  go  to  he  pro- 
moted over  the  Trees?"  Thus  far  the 
Trees  have  been  unsuccessful.  They  have 
found  among  their  fellows  of  the  forest  no 
available  candidate  whose  character  and 
record  are  good.  They  anticipated  a  diffi- 
culty of  more  modern  times.  But  they  are 
becoming  desperate.  They  are  determined 
to  have  a  king.  In  this  extremity  what 
step  do  they  take?  "Then  said  all  the 
Trees  unto  the  Bramble,  Come  thou  and 
reign  over  us."  The  Bramble  cannot  plead 
business.  It  cannot  say,  as  do  the  Olive 
and    Fig   and    Vine,   "I    am   of  some   better 


30  iuit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

use."  There  is  no  reason,  so  far  as  any 
beneficent  occupation  is  concerned,  why  it 
should  not  be  king.  The  offer  is  eagerly 
accepted,  and  the  pompous  bush  delivers 
itself  of  this  high  and  mighty  coronation 
address:  "If  in  truth  ye  anoint  me  king- 
over  yon,  then  come  and  put  your  trust  in 
my  shadow;  and  if  not,  let  fire  come  out 
of  the  Bramble  and  destroy  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon!" 

This  Bramble,  Jotham  explains,  represents 
Abimelech,  while  the  misguided  trees  are  the 
men  of  Shechem.  Having  made  this  appli- 
cation, Jotham  became  convinced  that  his 
mission  was  ended,  and  abandoned  Mount 
Gerezim  for  a  place  of  greater  security. 
"And  Jotham  ran  away  and  fled,  and  went 
to  Beer  and  dwelt  there  for  fear  of  .Abime- 
lech his  brothei-/'  He  did  not  wait  to  see 
what  impression  he  had  made.  He  was 
willing  to  let  his  story,  moral  and  all, 
take  care  of  itself;  for  in  that  day,  as  in 
every  subsequent  age,  there  was  no  room 
for  a  satirist  in  the  kingdom  of  an  incom- 
petent ruler. 


Cbaractcr  Sketches.  31 

II.  —  Samson. 

Farther  on  in  the  book  of  Judges,  we 
have  the  portrait  of  Samson.  How  quaintly 
is  the  character  drawn!  A  great  lubberly, 
good-natured  giant,  but  now  and  then  burst- 
ing out  into  fits  of  unreasoning  "and  uncon- 
trolled anger,  —  not  unlike  Ajax  in  the 
play.  He  is  constantly  making  himself  ridi- 
culous in  his  love  affairs. 

In  Love's  Labor  Lost,  the  following  dia- 
logue ocelli's: — 

"  Armado. — Comfort  me,    boy.     What   great  men 

have  been  in  love? 

••  Moth. — Hercules,  .Master. 

"ARM. — Most  sweet  Hercules!  More  authority 
dear  boy,  name  more  ;  and  sweet  my  child,  let  them  be 
men  of  good  repute  and  carriage. 

"Moth.  — Samson,  Master;  he  was  a  man  of  good 
carriage,  for  he  raised  the  town  gates  on  his  back  like  a 
porter;   and  he  was  in  love." 

He  tries  to  joke  in  clumsy  riddles:  "Out 
of  the  eater  came  forth  meal,  out  of  the 
strong  came  forth  sweetness."  But  his 
jokes  were  usually  of  a  more  practical  and 
even  more  disastrous  kind.     L'Estrange,  in 


32  mit  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

his  History  of  Humor,  says:  w  The  first 
character  in  the  records  of  antiquity  that 

seems  to  have  had  anything  quaint  or  droll 
about  it  is  that  of  Samson.  Standing  out 
amid  the  confusion  of  legendary  times,  he 
gives  us  good  specimens  of  the  fierce,  wild 
kind  of  merriment  relished  in  ancient  days; 
and  was  very  fond  of  making  very  sanguin- 
ary sport  for  the  Philistines.  He  was  an 
exaggeration  of  a  not  very  uncommon  type 
of  man.  in  which  brute  strength  is  joined  to 
loose  morals  and  whimsical  fancy.  People 
were  more  inclined  to  laugh  at  sufferings 
formerly  than  now,  because  they  were  not 
keenly  sensitive  to  pain,  and  also  had  less 
feeling  and  consideration  for  others.  That 
Samson  found  some  malicious  kind  of  pleas- 
ure and  diversion  in  his  reprisals  on  his 
enemies  and  made  his  misfortunes  minister 
to  his  amusement,  is  evident  from  the 
strange  character  of  his  exploits.  f  He 
caught  three  hundred  foxes,  and  took  fire- 
brands, and  turned  tail  to  tail,  and  put  a  fire- 
brand in  the  midst  between  two  tails,  and 
when  he  had  set  the  brands  on  fire,  he  let 
them  go  into  the  standing  corn  of  the  Philis- 


Character  5ketcbes.  :;:; 

tines,  and  burned  up  both  the  shocks  and 
also  the  standing  corn  of  the  Philistines, 
with  the  vineyards  and  olives. '     On  another 

occasion,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  hound 
with  cords  and  thus  apparently  delivered 
powerless  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies; 
he  then  broke  his  bonds  Mike  flax  that  was 
burnt  with  fire,5  and  taking  the  jawbone  of 
an  ass  which  he  found,  slew  a  thousand  men 
with  it.  His  account  of  this  massacre  shows 
that  he  regarded  it  in  a  humorous  light: 
f  With  the  jawbone  of  an  ass,  heaps  upon 
heaps,  with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass,  I  have 
slain  a  thousand  men/  We  might  also 
refer  to  his  carrying  away  the  gates  of  Gaza 
to  the  top  of  a  hill  that  is  before  Hebron, 
and  to  his  duping  Delilah  about  the  seven 
green  withes.  *  *  *  Samson  was  evi- 
dently regarded  as  a  droll  fellow  in  his  day." 
What  a  touch  of  human  nature  there  is 
in  the  scene  between  Samson  and  his  wife, 
when  she  asks  for  the  solution  of  that 
wretched  riddle!  "'Thou  dost  but  hate  me," 
is  her  reproach,  "and  lovest  me  not;  thou 
hast  put  forth  a  riddle  unto  the  children  of 
my    people,    and   hast    not.  told    it    to   me." 


34  xuit  an&  t>umoc  of  tbe  JBtble. 

What!  is  there  a  domestic  storm  already 
brewing?  There  is  something  of  a  thunder- 
clap in  the  angry  retort  of  the  husband: 
t? Behold,  I  have  not  told  it  to  my  father  and 
my  mother,"  (as  if  that  would  make  any 
difference  to  her!)  "and  shall  I  tell  it  to 
thee?"  Comparisons  of  this  sort  are  but 
little  noted  for  their  conciliatory  tendencies, 
and  so  we  are  fully  prepared  for  what 
follows:  "And  site  wept  before  him  the 
seven  days  while  the  feast  lasted."  Poor 
Samson  is  not  proof  against  woman's  tears. 
He  could  rend  the  lion  as  a  kid,  and  carry 
off  the  gates  of  Gaza  as  easily  as  a  shepherd 
could  bear  a  lamb  upon  his  shoulders,  but 
his  superhuman  strength  is  of  no  avail 
against  "women's  weapons,  Water-drops." 
"We  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  w  it  came 
to  pass  on  the  seventh  day  he  told  her." 
Thus  did  conjugal  quarrels  end  in  the  time 
of  the  Judges. 

But  if  Samson  was  worsted  in  the  en- 
counter with  his  wife,  he  scored  a  victory 
against  the  Philistines  who  had  frightened 
her  into  telling  them  the  answer  to  the 
'riddle.     When   they    came    with   an  air  of 


Cbaractcv  Shctcbea. 

insolent  triumph  and  said:  "What  is 
sweeter  than  honey?  and  what  Is  stronger 
than  a  lion?"  he  rather  impolitely  retorted, 
—  traces  of  gall  and  wormwood  at  his 
recent  humiliation  by  his  wife  still  rankling 
in  his  mind,  —  "If  ye  had  not  ploughed 
with  my  heifer,  ye  had  not  found  out  my 
riddle."  But  he  paid  the  debt  of  honor  he 
owed  them,  the  wager  he  had  lost.  rIIe 
went  down  to  Ashkelon,  and  slew  thirty 
men  of  them,  and  took  their  spoil  and  gave 
changes  of  raiment  unto  them  which 
expounded  the  riddle."  Thersites  would 
have  said  of  him  as  he  did  of  Achilles, 
"His  wit  was  his  sinew."  Samson  had  won- 
derful muscular  power  of  repartee. 

On  another  occasion  Samson  amused  him- 
self by  telling  monstrous  lies  about  the  se- 
cret of  his  strength:  "If  they  hind  me  with 
seven  green  withes  that  were  never  dried, 
then  shall  I  he  weak  and  he  as  another 
man:"  "if  they  hind  me  fast  with  new 
rope-:"  "if  thou  weavest  the  seven  locks 
of  my  head  with  the  web;"  and  so  on.  As 
Prince  Hal  said  of  the  stdries  of  his  boon 
companion,  "These  lies    are  like  the  father 


rat  an&  Ibumor  of  tbc  3Btble. 

that  begets  them;  gross  as  a  mountain, 
open,  palpable."  Delilah,  wearied  with 
these  practical  jokes,  exclaims  at  last, 
"How  canst  thou  say  rI  love  thee,'  when 
thine  heart  is  not  with  meV  Thou  hast 
mocked  me  these  three  times,  and  hast  not 
told  me  wherein  thy  greal  strength  lieth." 
Then  she  began  a  course  of  teasing  and 
entreaty  that  finally  proved  successful.  "It 
came  to  pass  when  she  pressed  him  daily 
with  her  words,  so  that  his  soul  was  vexed 
unto  death,  that  he  told  her  all  his  heart." 
Samson  was  great  physically,  but  so  weak 
mentally  and  morally  that  he  is  continually 
reducing  himself  to  an  absurd  spectacle. 
He  could  not  resist  Delilah's  persistent 
importunities,  nor  had  he  sufficient  resolu- 
tion to  betake  himself  from  the  presence 
of  temptation.  lie  had,  no  doubt,  laughed 
loud  and  long  at  the  victims  of  his  huge 
falsehoods,  but  he  is  finally  harassed  by  a 
woman  whose  reproaches  and  entreaties 
are  like  ffa  continual  dropping  on  a  rainy 
day,"  into  telling  the  fatal  truth.  Upon  the 
whole,  as  avc  look  upon  the  portrait  of  Sam- 
son, Ave   find  it  impossible   to  respect  him. 


Character  Sfcetcbes,  :;~ 

We  can  only  smile  at  his  folly.  The 
one  flash  of  genuine  nobility  conies  al  the 
last.  "Nothing  in  Ins  life  became  him 
like  the  leaving  it."  After  all,  that  heroic 
death  more  than  half  redeems  the  vacil- 
lating career  il  closes. 

[IL— Nabal. 

There  is  quite  a  different  character  in  the 
first  book  of  Samuel.  His  name  is  Nabal. 
The  word  itself  means  Kfool;"  and  the 
man's  wife,  Abigail,  volunteered  the  opin- 
ion that  it  was  a  very  accurate  description 
of  her  husband:  ™A.s  his  name  is,  so  is 
he:  Nabal  is  his  name  and  folly  is 
with  him?  He  is  self-satisfied,  hard- 
headed,  irritable,  obstinate.  We  are  told 
that  he  was  w churlish  and  evil  in  his 
doings."  He  is  blunt  in  speech,  rude, 
and  even  boorish  in  manners.  lie  stands 
out  of  the  story  like  an  old,  gnarled  tree, 
Tt  would  not  be  a  matter  of  marvel  if  he 
suggested  to  Fielding  the  character  of  Squire 
Western.  They  have  many  points  in  com- 
mon. The  servants  of  Nabal  are  afraid  of 
him:  "He  is  such  a  son  of  Belial  that  a  man 


3S  TOt  anD  f)umot  of  tbe  JGiblc. 

cannot  speak  to  him!"  He  is  fond  of  wine, 
and  sometimes  falls   asleep   over  his   cups. 

When  David  asks  a  favor  of  him,  he  ex- 
claims: "Who  is  David?  and  who  is  the 
son  of  Jesse?  There  be  many  servants 
now-a-days  that  break  away,  every  man 
from  his  own  master!"  As  much  as  to 
say,  "The  country  is  full  of  runaways 
and  tramps,  and  how  do  I  know  but  tins 
David  is  one  of  them?"  Then  he  goes  on 
—  "Shall  I  take  my  bread  and  my  water, 
and  my  flesh  that  I  have  killed  for  my 
shearers,  and  give  it  unto  men  whom  I 
know  not  whence  they  be?"  Let  this 
David  look  out  for  himself;  it  is  all  that  I 
can  do  to  provide  for  my  own  family  and 
servants!  How  exactly  in  the  Squire  West- 
ern; vein:  "It's  well  for  un  I  could  not  get 
at  un;  I'd  spoiled  his  caterwauling;  I'd  a 
taught  un  to  meddle  with  meat  for  his 
master.  lie  shan't  ever  have  a  morsel  of 
meat  of  mine,  or  a  varden  to  buy  it 
with!"  Just  the  man,  after  he  has  stormed 
his  life  away,  to  4*e  of  apoplexy!  And 
Nabal  did  die  suddenly,  a  few  days  after 
he  had  been  "  \(jv\  drunken." 


Cbaractcr  Sketches.  39 

IV. J  ON  All. 

There  arc  some  elements  of  genuine 
humor  in  the  story  of  Jonah.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  miraculous  portions 
of  the  narrative,  the  character  of  the  shirk- 
ing and  whimpering  prophet  is  faithfully 
drawn.  He  first  tries  to  escape  the  com- 
mand of  the  Lord  by  fleeing  to  Tarshish, 
but  finds  that  he  who  runs  away  from  duty 
runs  into  danger.  Thoroughly  alarmed  by 
the  disastrous  outcome  of  his  attempt  to  get 
away  from  responsibility;,  he  finally  goes  to 
Nineveh,  but  is  not  reconciled  to  his  task. 
He  did  not  go  because  he  was  anxious  to 
serve  the  Nmevites,  but  because  he  wished 
to  avert  further  danger  from  himself.  lie 
is  in  just  the  mood  to  complain  of  every- 
thing, to  snatch  at  any  straw  of  justification 
for  his  former  conduct.  Contrary  to  his 
expectations,  and  even,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, to  his  secret  wishes,  the  Nmevites 
were  moved  to  repentance  by  his  half- 
hearted preaching,  with  its  undertone  of 
grumbling,  and  God  forgave  them  and 
turned    away  the  threatened  destruction  of 


40  ixxix  ant)  fmmot  of  tbe  .tBiblc. 

their  city.     Bui  when  the  forty  days  expire, 

.mikI  the  city  does  not  fall,  Jonah  is  angry, 
and  he  insists  that  he  docs  well  to  be  angry. 
He  has  been  obliged  to  trudge  through  the 

streets  of  the  city  day  after  day  shouting 
his  predictions  of  doom,  and  now  lie  is 
denied  the  poor  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
bolts  fall  from  heaven  in  vengeance.  He 
has  even  gone  so  far  as  to  prepare  for 
himself  a  booth  in  a  safe  place,  under 
whose  shadow  he  might  sit  and  enjoy  the 
spectacle, —  "where  he  might  see  what 
would  become  of  the  city."  And  now  there 
is  nothing  to  come  of  it  all!  "It  displeased 
Jonah  exceedingly  and  he  was  very  angry." 
Surely  the  Lord  is  not  considerate  of  the 
feelings  of  his  prophet.  Jonah's  pent-up 
displeasure  breaks  forth:  "1  pray  thee,  O 
Lord,  was  not  this  my  saving  while  I  was 
yet  in  mine  own  country?"  Did  I  not  tell 
you  so?  Did  I  not  say  then  and  there  how 
this  whole  affair  would  turn  out?  "There- 
fore I  fled  before  unto  Tarshish."  Why 
should  I  blister  under  the  sun  of  Nin- 
eveh, when  I  might  take  mine  ease  in 
Tarshish?     "For  I  knew  that   Thou  art  a 


Cbaractet  Sftetcbee.  41 

gracious  God,  slow  to  anger  and  of  great 
kindness  and  repentesl  thee  of  the  evil,"  — 
too  good-natured  to  do  this  thing!  And 
now  that  I  have  come,  my  prophecy  has 
failed  and  my  mission  is  a  farce.  These 
wretches  are  spared  and  the  prophet  of  God 
is  a  laughing-stock!  "I  do  well  to  be  angry, 
even  unto  death!''  He  goes  farther:  "I 
beseech  thee,  take  away  my  life  from  me; 
for  it  is  better  for  me  to  die  than  to  live." 
It  is  better  to  die  than  to  be  made  ridicu- 
lous. Nothing  could  reconcile  Jonah,  just 
then,  to  the  thought  of  further  existence. 
Like  Mr.  Mantilini,  he  was  determined  to 
become  a  "body/' 

V.  —  Absalom. 

AVe  must  not  pass  by  that  exquisite  like- 
ness of  the  demagogue  in  Second  Samuel. 
"Absalom  rose  up  early  and  stood  beside 
the  way  of  the  gate;  and  it  Avas  so  that 
when  any  man  that  had  a  controversy  came 
to  the  king  for  judgment,  then  Absalom 
called  unto  him  and  said,  Of  what  city  art 
thou?   and   he   said,  Thy  servant  is  one  of 


42  xuit  an&  t>umot  of  tbe  raible. 

the  tribes  of  Israel.  And  Absalsom  said 
unto  him,  Sec,  thy  matters  are  good  and 
right,  but  there  is  no  one  deputed  of  the 
king  to  hear  thee/'  Things  are  getting 
very  loose  in  the  government;  the  country 
is  going  to  the  dogs.  The  present  adminis- 
tration has  been  so  long  in  power,  thai  it 
has  grown  careless  of  the  interests  of  the 
people.  Absalom  said,  moreover,  f'G  that  I 
were  made  Judge  in  the  land;  that  any  man 
which  hath  any  suit  or  any  cause  might 
come  unto  me,  and  I  would  do  him  justice!" 
We  need  a  change.  Put  our  party  in  power 
and  see  whether  the  rights  of  the  people  will 
not  be  better  regarded;  see  whether  there 
will  not  be  reform  in  all  departments  of  the 
government,  and  better  times  in  the  nation. 
"  And  it  was  so  that  when  any  man  came  to 
him  to  do  him  obeisance,  he  put  forth  his 
hand  and  took  him  and  kissed  him."  Really, 
here  we  have  the  origin  of  the  hand  shaking 
candidate  of  to-day.  Here  are  the  begin- 
nings of  that  cajolery  of  the  "poor  laboring 
man,"  "the  honest  farmer,"  "the  oppressed 
people,"  which  the  modern  aspirant  to  office 
so  earnestly  affects.     "And  in  this  manner 


Character  Sketches.  43 

did  Absalom  to  all  Israel  that  came  unto  the 
King  for  judgment;  so  Absalom  stole  the 
hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel."  In  one  point 
the  comparison  between  Absalom  and  his 
later  imitators  fails.  Absalom,  it  will 
be  remembered,  closed  his  career  by  getting 
hung  upon  a  tree.  It  is  greatly  to  he  re- 
gretted that  many  of  our  modern  dema- 
gogues do  not  complete  the  parallel. 

VI.  —  Shimei. 

If  Absalom  is  a  type  of  the  demagogue, 
Shimei  surely  is  a  type  of  the  sycophant. 
While  David  was  in  power,  Shimei  was  de- 
voted. When  David  was  supplanted  by 
the  scheming  Absalom  and  went  forth 
heart-broken  and  weary  from  the  city 
where  he  had  reigned,  Shimei  basely 
deserts  him  to  become  the  tool  of  Absalom, 
and  heaps  insults  upon  the  head  of  the 
fallen  monarch.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  his 
conduct  and  language:  "lie  cast  stones  at 
David  and  at  the  servants  of  King  David. 
*  *  *  And  thus  said  Shimei  when  he 
cursed,   Come   out,   come   out,   thou   bloody 


44  TOt  an&  Ibumor  of  tbc  JGible. 

man  and  thou  man  of  Belial:  the  Lord  hath 
returned  upon  thee  all  the  blood  of  the 
house  of  Saul  in  whose;  stead  thou  hast 
reigned;  and  the  Lord  hath  delivered  the 
kingdom  into  the  hand  of  Absalom  thy 
son;  and  behold  thou  art  taken  in  thy  mis- 
chief because  thou  art  a  bloody  man."  This 
exhibition  of  meanness  rouses  the  just  wrath 
of  Abishai,  who  wishes  to  put  an  effectual 
stop  to  the  miserable  proceeding:  "  Why 
should  this  dead  dog  curse  my  lord,  the 
King?  Let  me  go  over,  I  pray  thee,  and 
take  off  his  head."  But  David  forbids, 
and  Shimei  secure  in  the  continued  posses- 
sion of  his  head  followed  after  David  and 
his  men  and  "cursed  as  he  went,  and  threw 
stones  at  him  and  cast  dust."  But  the 
scene  changes.  Absalom  lies  dead  under  a 
heap  of  stones  in  the  forest.  David  is 
returning  to  Jerusalem  as  king.  A  boat 
has  carried  him  across  the  Jordan.  Who  is 
this  that  meets  him  as  he  lands  and  fawns 
upon  him?  The  wretch  who  stoned  and 
cursed  him  the  other  day.  Tt  is  Shimei  who 
forsook  him  and  pelted  him  when  he  was 
unfortunate,  but  who  returns  to  offer,  "  in  a 


Cbaractet  Sftetcbes.  45 

bondman's  key,"  his  humble  services  when 
David  is  restored  to  power.  wLet  qoI 
my  Lord  impute  iniquity  unto  me,  neither 
do  thou  remember  that  which  thy  servant 
did,  the  day  that  my  lord  the  king  went  out 
of  Jerusalem,  that  the  king  should  take  it 
to  heart/'  Do  not  grieve  over  it,  do  not 
take  it  too  sorely.  I  admit  that  it  was 
rather  hasty  and  ill-advised.  ff  For  thy  ser- 
vant doth  know  that  I  have  sinned."  To  be 
sure  I  threw  some  stones,  and  kicked  up  a 
little  dust,  and  swore  a  few  oaths,  —  very  in- 
considerate it  seems  now;  but  I  am  willing  to 
forget  the  whole  affair.  And  see  what 
splendid  atonement  I  offer!  "  Behold,  I  am 
come  first  this  day  of  all  the  house  of  Joseph, 
to  go  down  to  meet  my  Lord,  the  King" 
Think  of  that!  Ah,  it  is  "my  lord,  the 
king"  to-day;  no  longer  a  "man  of  Belial." 
My  lord  the  king  can  grant  favors.  Any 
little  trifle  of  an  office  for  which  he  may 
want  an  incumbent  would  be  considered. 
Remember,  "  /  am  come  this  day,  the  first  of 
all  the  house  of  Joseph  to  go  down  to  meet 
in  II  lord  the  king. 

Sterne  says:       "The  wheel  turns  round 


46  xuit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBfble. 

once  more;  Absalom  Is  cast  down,  and 
David  returns  in  peace.  Shimei  suits  his 
behavior  to  the  occasion,  and  is  the  first 
man  also  who  hastens  to  greet  him;  and  had 
the  wheel  turned  round  a  hundred  times, 
Shimei,  I  dare  say,  in  every  period  of 
its  rotation  would  have  been  uppermost." 
Then  he  adds:  ffO  Shimei,  would  to  heaven 
when  thou  wast  slain,  that  all  thy  family  had 
been  slain  with  thee  and  not  one  of  thy  resem- 
blance left.  But  ye  have  multiplied  exceed- 
ingly and  replenished  the  earth;  and  if  I 
prophesy  rightly,  ye  will  in  the  end  subdue 
it.  Go  where  you  will,  in  every  quarter,  in 
every  profession,  you  see  a  Shimei  following 
the  wheels  of  the  fortunate  through  thick 
mire  and  clay.'' 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  writers  of  the 
Bible  drew  these  portraits  for  the  purpose  of 
making  ludicrous  those  whom  they  painted, 
but  the  features  were  in  the  originals,  and 
they  who  wrote  were  simply  faithful  to  nature. 
They  portrayed  what  they  saw.  They  did 
not  blind  themselves  to  facts;  and  now 
worthless  usurper,  weak-willed  giant,  chur- 
lish country  squire  of  Palestine,  grumbling 


Character  Sketches.  47 

prophet,  scheming  demagogue  and  oily 
syeo|)hant  live  forever  on  their  canvas. 
"Now,  by  two-headed  Janus,  Nature  Inith 
framed  strange  fellows  in  her  time;  "and 
some  of  those  "strange  fellows''  lived  in 
Judea  thousands  of  years  ago. 


III.     "TOUCHES  OF  NATURE." 

"  The  ludicrous  has  its  place  in  the  Universe;  it  is 
not  a  human  invention,  but  one  of  the  Divine  ideas, 
illustrated  in  the  practical  jokes  of  kittens  and  monkeys, 
long  before  Aristophanes  or  Shakespeare."  —  Holmes. 


(49) 


"TOUCHES   OF   NATURE." 

"  To  explain  the  nature  of  laughterand  tears  is  to  accounl 

for  tin'  condition  of  human  life;  for  it  is  in  a  manner  com- 
pounded of  thesetwo.  It  is  tragedy  or  comedy,  sad  or  merry, 
as  it  happens." — Hazlitt. 

kOne  touch  of  nature,"  says  Shakespeare, 
"makes  the  whole  world  kin;"  but  the 
great  dramatist  did  not  define  exactly  what 
he  meant  by  "touch  of  nature,"  and  the 
critics  of  many  generations  have  been  at 
war  over  the  question.  Perhaps  he  could 
not  have  told  us,  even  if  he  had  tried,  —  any 
more  than  the  critics  can  tell  us.  When 
Democritus  was  asked  his  definition  of  a 
man,  his  only  reply  was,  "A  man  is  that 
which  we  all  see  and  know."  Further  than 
this  the  philosopher  could  not  proceed. 
But  while  Shakespeare  has  not  given  us  a 
definition,  he  has  given  us  an  illustration: 

"  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin, 

That  all,  with  one  consent,  praise  new-horn  gauds, 
Tho'  they  are  made  and  moulded  of  things  past ; 
And  give  to  dust  that  is  a  little  gilt 
More  laud  than  gilt  o'erdusted." 

C51) 


52  van  anD  Ibumor  of  the  JStble. 

The  whole  world  is  l<in  in  this,  that  all 
with  one  consent  inexcusably  forget  the 
substantia]  past  and  praise  the  present  folly, 
if  that  folly  he  well  tricked  out.  Humanity 
proves  its  oneness  by  its  foibles  as  well  as 
by  its  virtues.  fr Foolery,  sir,  doth  walk 
about  the  orb;  like  the  sun  it  shineth  every- 
where." Things  deserving  of  laughter  and 
things  intended  to  provoke  it  have  always 
been  happening;  and  the  faculties  by  which 
men  perceive  the  foolish  and  ludicrous  have 
always  existed  in  human  nature. 

"  Quips  and  cranks  and  wanton  wiles, 
Nods  and  becks  and  wreathed  smiles, 
Sport  that  wrinkled  care  derides, 
And  laughter  holding  both  his  sides," — ■ 

all  these  were  in  the  past  as  well  as  in  the 
present.  They  are  "touches  of  nature" 
that  "make  the  whole  world  kin." 

The  statement  was  made  in  the  preceding 
chapter  that  the  writers  of  the  Bible,  espec- 
ially of  the  historical  books,  drew  faithfully 
from  real  life,  and  sketched  manners  and 
traits  as  they  found  them.  They  neither 
smoothed    over    nor    concealed     anything. 


"Coucbee  of  mature."  53 

They  were  absolutely  frank.  This  fidelity  to 
nature  made  it  inevitable  thai  the  writers 
should  now  and  then  depict  the  ludicrous 
side  of  life  and  character,  describe  grotesque 

situations  and  paint  amusing  scenes.  These 
are  not  uproariously  funny,  they  will  not 
provoke  boisterous  merriment,  any  more  than 
will  a  page  of  Addison;  hut  they  are  none 
the  less  specimens  of  genuine  humor. 
Indeed,  ( Jarlyle  reminds  us  that  r'true  humor 
springs  not  more  from  the  head  than  from 
the  heart;  it  issues  not  in  laughter,  but  in 
smiles  that  lie  far  deeper." 

We  may  be  sure  that  all  life  from  the 
very  beginning  has  had  its  humorous  no  less 
than  its  serious  side.  If  any  record  had 
been  kept,  we  should  no  doubt  find  that 
Adam  and  Eve  had  their  jokes  about  the 
apples — it  is  universally  assumed  that  they 
were  apples  —  on  that  forbidden  tree,  and 
that  they  were  quite  as  good  as  any  jokes 
that  have  been  made  about  those  same  apples 
in  more  recent  years.  The  masons  and 
bricklayers  on  the  tower  of  Babel  no  doubt 
poked  their  thumbs  into  each  other's  ribs  and 
slapped  each  other  on  the  back  to  emphasize 


54  \uit  and  Ibumcr  of  tbe  .iGiblc. 

their  rude  jokes  about  the  late  "wet  spell," 
and  wondered  how  long  it  would  take  to 
gel  to  Heaven  with  their  building.  And 
we  imagine  that  even  during  the  Hood  itself 
there  were  sanguine  souls  who  took  the 
whole  matter  philosophically,  declaring  that 
r  it  never  rained  long  when  the  clouds  looked 
that  way  and  the  wind  was  in  that  direc- 
tion/ The  Israelites,  we  suspect,  lightened 
their  bondage  in  Egypt  by  mimicking  the 
pompous  manners  of  their  hated  taskmasters 
and  ridiculing  the  fools  who  thought  that 
bricks  could  be  made  without  straw.  And 
the  grimmest  Egyptian  mummy  that  now 
graces  a  museum  or  helps  to  fertilize  the 
wheat-fields  of  the  West  once  wore  a  smile 
or  grin  upon  his  leathern  face  as  he  related  to 
a  brother  mummy  how  Pharoah  made  sport 
of  the  Israelites  by  promising  to  "let  them 
go,"  and  then  when  they  were  all  on  tip-toe 
with  expectation,  countermanding  the  order. 
Then  they  would  both  shake  their  heads  and 
chuckle  with  delight  over  the  pleasant 
humor  of  their  monarch  and  declare  that 
'Pharoah  was  in  high  spirits  to-day.'  Thus 
the  world    has    rolled    and    chirruped    and 


"ttoucbee  of  nature."  •••, 

cackled  on  since  the  time  when  man  emerged 

from  the  animal.  And  Holmes  suggests, 
in  our  motto,  that  the  sense  of  humor  was 
in  the  animal  before  man. 

r. 

Sometimes  the  humor  of  the  Bible  lies  in 
tbe  thing  described,  —  the  odd  or  awkward 
01*  absurd  thing'  said  or  done. 

"The  Iliad,"  says  Sidney  Smith,  "would 
never  have  come  down  to  these  times,  if 
Agamemnon  had  given  Achilles  a  box  on 
the  ear.  We  should  have  trembled  for  the 
./Eneid,  if  some  Trojan  nobleman  had 
kicked  the  pious  ^Eneas  in  the  fourth  book. 
.Eneas,  may  have  deserved  it,  but  he  never 
could  have  founded  the  Roman  Empire  after 
so  distressing  an  accident."  And  yet  acci- 
dents quite  as  distressing,  if  not  of  precisely 
the  same  nature,  have  happened  in  the  best 
families  that  ever  lived  upon  this  planet. 
The  writers  of  the  Bible  have  not  hesitated 
to  give  us  a  very  frank  account  of  some  of 
them. 

Imagine  the  vacant  look  of  the  terrified 
Aaron,    as    he    gave    his    imbecile    explan- 


56  xuit  and  ftmmor  of  tbc  JBible. 

at  ion  of  the  golden  calf!  Moses  and 
Joshua  are  coming  down  from  the  mountain. 
"  And  ayIh'u  Joshua  heard  the  noise  of  the 
people  as  they  shouted,  he  said  unto  Moses, 
There  is  a  noise  of  war  in  the  camp.  And 
Moses  answered,  It  is  not  the  voice  of 
them  that  shout  for  mastery,  neither  is  it 
the  voice  of  them  that  cry  for  being  over- 
come; but  the  noise  of  them  that  sing  do  I 
hear."  Soon  they  draw  near  the  camp  and 
see  "the  calf  and  the  dancing."  Then  does 
the  anger  of  Moses  wax  hot.  In  his  rage 
he  flings  down  and  shatters  the  "tables  of 
stone."  Like  a  whirlwind  he  descends  upon 
the  earn]),  hurls  the  miserable  calf  into  the 
fire,  and  demands  an  explanation  of  his 
recreant  brother.  "  What  did  this  people 
unto  thee  that  thou  hast  brought  so  great  a 
sin  upon  them?  "  Aaron  quails  beneath  the 
wrath  of  Moses  and  stammers:  "Thou 
knowest  the  people  that  they  are  set  on 
mischief.  For  they  said  unto  me,  Make  us 
gods  which  shall  go  before  us:  for  as  for 
this  Moses  "  —  think  of  that,  this  Moses  — 
"that  brought  us  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  we   know   not   what  has  become  of 


"Coucbcs  ot  future."  57 

him.''  You  see  they  are  set  on  mischief; 
they  were  disrespectful  even  unto  von  — 
this   Moses,     Something   had  to   be   done. 

"And  I  said  unto  them,  Whosoever  hath 
any  gold,  let  them  break  it  off.  80  they 
gave  it  to  me,  and  I  east  it  into  the  fire, 
and" — what  do  you  suppose  happened? — 
K  there  came  out  this  calf!"  I  was  as  much 
surprised  as  you  are,  but  no  one  is  respon- 
sible—  it  <Ii<I  itself! 

In  quaint  fashion  did  Saul  make  honest 
confession  when  smitten  with  remorse  on 
account  of  his  persecution  of  David:  "Be- 
hold I  have  played  the  fool !  "  The  regret 
of  Prince  Hal  also —  "Thus  do  we  play  the 
fools  with  time,  while  the  spirits  of  the  wise 
sit  in  the  clouds  and  mock  us." 

What  an  odd  —  almost  laughable  —  spec- 
tacle is  the  bombastic  Nebuchadnezzar, 
one  moment  proudly  striding  along  the 
battlements  of  his  palace,  "Is  not  this  great 
Babylon  which  I  have  builded?  "  —  the  next 
eating  grass  like  the  beasts  of  the  field!  As 
Carlyle  says:  "A  purple  Xebuchadnezzar 
rejoices  to  feel  himself  now  veritably  emperor 
of  this  great  Babylon  which  he  has  builded; 


•r>*  Ulit  and  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

and  />•  a  nondescript,  biped-quadruped,  on  the 
eve  of  a  seven  years'  course  of  grazing." 

There  is  a  scene  in  the  life  of  David  in 
which  that  worthy  is  represented  as  cutting 
fantastic  capers  before  high  heaven.  At 
one  time,  in  order  to  keep  out  of  Saul's  way, 
David  went  down  to  Gath.  The  servants 
of  KingAchish  recognize  him,  and  tell  their 
loyal  master  that  this  is  the  famous  David 
over  whose  exploits  the  daughters  of  Israel 
sang.  "Is  not  this  David,  the  king  of  the 
land?  Did  they  not  sing  to  one  another  of 
him  in  dances,  saying,  Saul  hath  slain  his 
thousands,  and  David  his  ten  thousands?" 
Bui  David  does  not  wish  his  identity  known 
and  with  characteristic  shrewdness  lie  feigns 
insanity.  "He  feigned  himself  mad,  and 
scrabbled  on  the  doors  of  the  gate  and  let 
his  spittle  fall  down  upon  his  beard,"  —  a 
sorry  looking  hero!  So  thinks  the  king" 
Achish.  What,  this  the  man  that  slew  the 
giant?  this  drivelling  lunatic  the  victor  that 
[srael's  daughters  praised?  His  disgust 
knows  no  hounds.  Tie  is  almost  as  gro- 
tesque in  his  anger  as  is  David  in  his  appear- 
ance   and    conduct.      He    turns    upon    his 


"Coucbe*  of  nature."  59 

courtiers  in  offended  dignity  and  cries,f*Lo, 
ye  sec  the  man  is  mad;  wherefore  have  ye 
brought  him  to  me?  Havt  I  need  of  mad- 
men, (are  nol  ye  my  own  servants  suffi- 
cient?) thai  ye  have  brought  this  fellow  to 
play  the  madman  in  my  presence?  Shall 
this  fellow  come  into  my  house?  "  "  Pool  me 
no  fools."  says  King  Achish.  When  King 
Achish  asked,  "Have  I  need  of  madmen?" 
he  evidently  thought  of  his  own  servants  and 
courtiers  as  did  Christian  I.,  of  Denmark,  in 
modern  times,  of  those  who  graced  his 
Court.  He  sharply  remarked,  on  a  pres- 
entation to  him  of  several  court  fools,  that 
"he  was  not  in  want  of  such  things,  and  if 
he  were,  he  had  only  to  give  license  to  his 
courtiers,  who,  to  his  certain  knowledge, 
were  capable  of  exhibiting  themselves  as 
the  greatest  fools  in  Europe!" 

In  Nehemiah's  account  of  building  the 
Avails  of  Jerusalem,  he  shows  how  sorely 
the  dews  took  the  clumsy  jibes  of  their 
for-  and  gives  us  a  specimen  of  Samaritan 
joking  in  that  early  day.  Sanballat  mocked 
the  dews  and  said,  "  What  do  these  feeble 
Jews?     Will  they  fortify  themselves?     Will 


60  TOUt  an£>  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBiblc. 

they  sacrifice?  "Will  they  make  an  end  in 
a  clay?  AVill  they  revive  the  stones  out 
of  the  heaps  of  rubbish  which  are  burned?" 
Tobiah,  the  Amorite,  was  yet  more  caustic: 
"Even  that  which  they  build,  if  a  fox  go 
ii]),  he  will  even  break  down  their  stone 
wall."  This  ridicule,  although  the  jests  do 
not  seem  very  formidable  to  us,  was  harder 
to  bear  than  attacks  with  sword  and  spear. 
It  is  so  to-day.  We  can  stand  anything  but 
laughter.  One  would  rather  be  made  to 
appear  infamous  than  ridiculous.  The  only 
answer  the  builders  could  make  was  to  pray 
for  the  destruction  of  their  sarcastic  perse- 
cutors. They  wished  that  heaven's  bolts 
of  lightning  might  answer  these  bolts  of 
wit. 

II. 

Sometimes  the  humor  lies  in  the  descrip- 
tion itself  rather  than  in  the  thing  described. 
Dr.  Barrow,  in  his  famous  essay,  says  of 
facetiousness,  "Sometimes  it  is  wrapped  up 
in  a  dress  of  humorous  expression." 

An  excellent  example  is  furnished  in  the 
account   of  the   mob    at    Ephesus:    "Some, 


"Couches  of  nature."  r>l 

therefore,  cried  our  thing  and  some  another; 
for  the  assembly  was  confused;  and  the 
more  part  km  w  not  wherefore  they  were 
come  togetht  r." 

When  Sidney  Smith  speaks  of  w distress- 
ing accidents,"  we  arc  reminded  that  an 
exceedingly  "distressing  accident"  hap- 
pened in  the  very  first  family  of  which  we 
have  any  record — the  family  that  started 
in  Eden.  Aside  from  any  question  as  to  the 
literal  truth  of  the  story,  nothing  can  exceed 
the  simplicity  and  naturalness  with  which 
the  writer  has  described  the  culprits  and 
their  excuses.  The  first  thing  they  did 
after  their  transgression  was  to  hide.  The 
supreme  and  perpetual  folly  of  guilt  is  to 
imagine  that  it  can  be  hid  when  the  voice 
of  the  Lord  (rod  is  heard  in  the  garden. 
".Vud  the  Lord  God  called  unto  Adam, 
and  said  unto  him.  Where  art  thou?"  The 
culprit  creeps  forth  from  his  hiding-place 
and  stammers,  "I  heard  thy  voice  in 
the  garden,  and  I  was  afraid  because  I 
was  naked;  and  I  hid  myself."  "Who 
told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked?  EJasI 
thou    eaten    of    the    tree    whereof    I    com- 


62  iMit  an&  tumor  of  tbe  Bible. 

manded  thee  that  thou  shoiildst  not  eat?" 
Now  the  guilty   secret   is   out   and   Adam 

pleads  in  extenuation,  "The  woman  that 
thou  gavest  to  be  with  me,  she  gave 
me  of  the  tree  and  I  did  eat."  It  was  no 
fault  of  mine.  That  woman  was  to  blame 
— the  woman,  O  Lord,  remember,  that  thou 
gavest  to  be  with  me.  Is  not  a  little  of  the 
responsibility  thine  also,  O  Lord?  A  touch 
of  nature!  "As  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is 
now  and  ever  shall  be!"  But  Eve  will  not 
bear  all  the  blame.  She  also  is  ready  with 
her  excuse:  "The  serpent  beguiled  me  and 
I  did  eat."  Another  remove  in  the  location 
of  the  responsibility.  If  we  can  forget  all 
that  theology  has  put  into  this  story  and 
look  on  it  simply  as  a  bit  of  literature,  it  is  a 
charming  description  of  the  way  in  which  we 
mortals  disclaim  accountability  for  our  deeds. 

"  And  oftentimes  excusing  of  a  fault, 

Doth  make  the  fault  worse  by  the  excuse  ; 
As  patches  set  upon  a  little  breach, 
Discredit  more  in  hiding  of  the  fault, 
Then  did  the  fault  before  it  was  so  patched." 

Job  has  expressed  his  contempt  for  Adam's 
conduct  in  Eden  by  invoking  upon  himself 


11  Couches  of  Wature."  68 

even  greater  ills  than  he  was  then  suffering, 
if  he  followed  thai  disgraceful  example, — 
"If  I  covered  my  transgression  as  Adam,  by 
hiding  my  iniquity  in  my  bosom."  In  mag- 
nificent scorn  of  Adam's  hiding  from  the 
Lord  and  laying  his  guilt  upon  another,  Job 
exclaims,  wBehold,  my  desire  is  that  the 
Almighty  would  answer  me!"  and  avows 
that  "lie  would  declare  unto  him  the  number 
of  his  steps,  and  as  a  prince  would  go  near 
unto  him,"  —  not  skulk  away  from  his  pres- 
ence among  trees  and  bushes.  The  low 
estimation  in  which  Job  holds  Adam  sug- 
gests that  the  old  Hebrew  who  wrote  the 
story  in  Genesis,  may  have  intended  to  hold 
up  that  primal  man  in  a  humorous  light. 

Whether  the  story  of  Balaam  is  literally 
correct  in  its  details  is  one  of  the  questions 
this  little  volume  is  not  intended  to  discuss. 
The  writer  of  that  story  tells  his  tale  as 
naively  as  if  conversations  between  men 
and  animals  were  of  everyday  occurrence. 
If  we  read  it  as  we  would  any  similiar  piece, 
any  other  fable  in  which  men  and  beasts 
speak  to  each  other,  we  should  say  that 
there  were  some  elements  of  the  ludicrous 


64  Tuatt  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

in  the  picture  of  the  prophet  rebuked  by  his 
ass.  "And  the  ass  saw  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  standing  in  the  way,  and  his  sword 
drawn  in  his  hand;  and  the  ass  turned  aside 
out  of  the  way  and  went  into  the  field. 
And  Balaam  smote  the  ass  to  turn  her  into 
the  way."  Just  what  any  one  would  do  to  a 
ff shying"  animal,  upon  impulse.  ff  But  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  stood  in  a  path  of  the 
vineyards,  a  wall  being  on  this  side  and  a 
wall  on  that  side.  And  when  the  ass  saw 
the  angel  of  the  Lord,  she  thrust  herself 
unto  the  wall  and  crushed  Balaam's  foot 
against  the  wall;  and  he  smote  her  again." 
Naturally  enough!  "And  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  went  further  and  stood  in  a  narrow 
place  where  there  was  no  way  to  turn  either 
to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left.  And  when 
the  ass  saw  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  she  fell 
down  under  Balaam;  and  Balaam's  anger 
was  kindled,  and  he  smote  the  ass  with  a 
staff."  The  rising  wrath  of  the  prophet 
can  no  longer  be  controlled.  The  turning 
from  the  way,  the  crushing  of  his  foot 
against  the  Avail,  and  finally  the  falling  down 
under  him  and  refusing  to  proceed  further, 


"  Coucbee  of  Mature."  65 

—  these  indignities  on  the  part  of  the  ass  at 
length  exasperate  the  prophet  beyond  all 
measure,  and  he  right  lustily  lays  on  the 
cudgel.  "  What  have  I  done  unto  thee  that 
thou  hast  smitten  me  these  three  times?" 
meekly  inquires  the  belabored  ass,  "Be- 
cause thou  hast  mocked  me,  I  would  that  there 
were  a  sword  in  my  hand,  for  now  I  would 
kill  thee,"  roars  Balaam.  Thou  hast  mocked 
me;  thou  hast  played  tricks  upon  thy  master, 
the  prophet  of  God.  Thou  hast  done  this 
on  purpose  to  vex  me  and  put  me  to  shame. 
Thou  hast  made  a  sorry  spectacle  of  me  with 
thy  pranks,  and  thou  hast  crushed  my  foot 
in  the  bargain.  "Am  I  not  thine  ass  upon 
which  thou  hast  ridden  ever  since  I  was 
thine  unto  this  day?  Was  I  ever  wont  to 
do  so  unto  thee?"  Should  you  not  have 
known  there  was  something  unusual? 
These  are  touches  of  nature  in  a  story 
which  might  illustrate  the  saying  of  Isaiah 
in  which  he  attributes  higher  wisdom  to 
brutes  than  to  men:  "The  ox  knoweth  his 
owner  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib,  but 
Israel  doth  not  know,  my  people  will  not 
consider."     Was  it  this  saying  that  Shakes- 


r>6  TUflit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBfble. 

peare  had  in  mind  when  he  said,  through  the 
lips  of  Mark  Antony : 

14  O  judgment,  thou  art  fled  to  brutish  beasts, 
And  men  have  lost  their  reason." 

At  one  time  the  king  of  Assyria  brought 
men  from  Babylon  and  other  cities,  and  put 
them  into  the  cities  of  Samaria  to  take  the 
places  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  but  the  new 
inhabitants  did  not  fear  the  Lord,  so  the 
writer  tells  us  that  the  Lord  sent  lions 
among  them  and  slew  them.  Some  one 
spoke  to  the  king  of  Assyria,  saying,  rf  The 
nations  which  thou  hast  moved  and  placed 
in  the  cities  of  Samaria  know  not  the 
manner  of  the  God  of  the  land/'  The}  are 
not  acquainted  with  his  habits  and  methods, 
and  have  gotten  themselves  into  great 
trouble.  The  God  of  the  land  has  sent  lions 
among  them.  The  king,  hearing  this,  is  in 
great  dismay.  It  will  never  do  —  the 
ravages  of  those  lions  must  be  stopped. 
He  evidently  thought,  as  did  Nick  Bottom, 
"  There  is  no  more  fearful  wild-fowl  than 
your  lion  living,  and  we  ought  to  look  to 
it."       Pf  Then    the    king   of   Assyria    com- 


"  Coucbes  of  IRature."  ,;~ 

manded,  saying,  Carry  thither  one  of  the 
priests  whom  ye  brought  from  thence,  and 
let  him  go  there  and  dwell  and  teach  them 
the  manner  of  the  God  of  the  land."  The 
priest  went  and  taught  the  uninitiated 
people  not  to  provoke  a  God  who  could  let 
hungry  lions  loose  upon  them  at  any 
moment.  The  people  listened  in  terror. 
The  result  of  the  instruction  was  that  "the 
people  feared  the  Lord,"  —  with  a  side 
glance  at  the  lions.  They  tried  to  refrain 
from  what  would  make  him  angry  enough 
to  order  out  the  lions ;  but  after  all  —  and 
there  must  have  been  a  twinkle  in  the  eye  of 
the  scribe  as  he  recorded  it  — ff  they  served 
their  own  gods" 

When  Queen  Vashti  refused  to  come  into 
the  presence  of  King  Ahasuerus  and  his 
drunken  lords,  she  did  something  that  was 
wholly  unprecedented.  Nothing  of  the 
kind  had  ever  before  been  heard  of  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  empire.  The  revellers 
are  shocked  sober.  Consternation  reigns 
supreme.  When  did  a  queen  ever  refuse 
to  do  the  bidding  of  a  king?  a  wife  the 
bidding  of  a  husband?     Are  all  our  ancient 


08  -mitt  anfc  Dumor  of  tbe  mbic. 

notions  of  propriety  to  be  overturned? 
What  will  be  the  effect  of  Vasht'fs  rebellion? 
The  feelings  of  the  king  are  outraged 
because  the  queen  declines  to  unveil  her 
beauty  before  his  roistering  courtiers.  En- 
raged, he  demands,  K  What  shall  be  done 
unto  Queen  Vashti  because  she  hath  not 
performed  the  commandment  of  the  King 
Ahasuerus?"  It  is  a  grave  question.  The 
lords  themselves  have  a  stake  in  this  matter. 
They  fear  the  result  of  this  strong-minded 
example.  The  contagion  of  disobedience 
may  spread.  If  it  should,  whose  authority 
as  husband  is  safe?  And  Memucan 
answered,  "  Yashti,  the  queen,  hath  not 
done  wrong  to  the  king  only,  but  also  to  all 
the  princes,  and  to  all  the  people  that  are 
in  the  province  of  the  King  Ahasuerus. 
For  this  deed  of  Queen  Vashti's  shall  come 
abroad  to  all  women,  to  make  their  husbands 
contemptible  in  their  eyes,  when  it  shall  be 
reported  that  the  King  Ahasuerus  com- 
manded Yashti  the  queen  to  be  brought 
in  before  him,  but  she  came  not.  And  this 
day  shall  all  the  princesses  of  Persia  and 
Media  which  have  heard  of  the  deed  of  the 


"Goucbee  of  future.'1  &9 

queen,  say  the  like  unto  all  the  king's  prin- 
ces. So  shall  there  arise  too  much  contempt 
and  wrath."  Such  a  thought  could  not  be 
entertained.  As  Dogberry  would  put  it/' It 
is  most  tolerable  and  not  to  he  endured." 
Memucan,  therefore,  advises:  "If  it  please 
the  king  let  there  go  a  royal  commandment 
from  him,  and  let  it  be  written  among  the 
laws  of  the  Persians  and  Medes,  that  it  be 
not  altered,  that  Vashti  come  no  more 
before  King  Ahasuerus;  and  let  the  king 
give  her  royal  estate  unto  another  that  is 
better  than  she."  The  penalty  is  severe, 
but  the  case  is  one  that  demands  heroic 
treatment.  "And  when  the  king's  decree 
which  he  shall  make,  shall  be  published 
throughout  all  his  empire,  all  the  ivives 
sJ/(//l  give  t<>  their  husbands  honor,  both  r/reat 
and  small"  The  advice  is  accepted.  'The 
saying  pleased  the  king  and  the  prince-: 
and  the  king  did  according  to  the  word  of 
Memucan;  for  he  scut  letters  into  all  the 
king's  provinces,  into  every  province  ac- 
cording to  the  writing  thereof,  to  every 
people  after  their  language,  that  every  man 
should  bear  rule  in  his  own  house"     Thus 


70  xutt  ano  Ibumor  of  tbc  .tSiblc. 

perished  the  first  recorded  movement  in  the 

direction  of  woman's  rights! 


III. 


The  humor  of  the  Biblical  writers  is  often 
shown  in  the  way  they  pierce  through  out- 
ward actions  and  penetrate  to  the  hidden 
motives  of  men.  Before  their  keen  vision 
external  disguises  are  vain. 

Let  us  turn  to  the  account  of  sending 
the  demons  from  the  maniac  into  the  swine. 
Let  us  take  the  account  that  speaks  of  but  one 
maniac.  w  Then  they  that  fed  the  swine  fled 
and  told  it  in  the  city  and  in  the  country. 
And  they  went  out  to  see  what  it  was  that 
was  done.  And  they  came  to  Jesus  and  see 
him  that  was  possessed  of  the  devil  and  had 
the  legion,  sitting  clothed  and  in  his  right 
mind;  and  they  were  afraid."  It  must 
have  seemed  absurd  to  the  evangelist  that 
these  Gadarenes  should  have  been  afraid  of 
the  insane  man  after  he  had  been  restored. 
But  the  swineherds  have  not  yet  told  all 
their  story.  "And  when  they  that  saw  it 
told  them   how  it    befell    to    him   that  was 


"Coucbe*  of  fiature.M  71 

po>sc>snl  with  the  devils  and  also  concern" 
ing  the  swine — "  "Ave,  there's  the  rub!" 
'*  when  they  heard  ///'//,  they  began  to  pray 
1/i in  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts"     A  man 

has  been  restored,  but  a  herd  of  swine  lias 
been  lost.  This  new  prophet  will  ruin  us 
all,  if  he  stays  here.  Let  him  begone. 
Though  he  saved  men,  they  prayed  him  to 
depart  because  he  let  the  swine  be  drowned. 
Jesus  himself  said  once  that ff  every  man  was 
of  more  value  than  many  sparrows;"  but 
these  Gadarenes  seemed  to  think  that  no 
man  was  worth  "two  thousand  swine." 

In  the  preceding  section  of  this  chapter, 
Paul's  description  of  a  mob  is  noted.  It 
will  be  interesting  to  understand  the  oc- 
casion of  that  mob.  When  Paul  preached 
at  Ephesus,  there  was  a  marked  decline  in 
the  demand  for  images  and  silver  shrines 
of  Diana.  The  market  became  weak.  One 
of  the  principal  manufacturers,  Demetrius, 
called  together  all  who  were  in  the  same 
business  and  said:  "Sirs,  ye  know  that  by 
this  craft  Ave  have  our  wealth.  Moreover, 
ye  see  and  hear  that  not  alone  in  Ephesus, 
but  almost  throughout   all   Asia,  this  Paul 


72  wit  ano  t>umot  of  tbe  JBfble. 

hath  persuaded  and  turned  away  much 
people,  saying  that  there  be  no  gods  which 
are  made  with  hands:  so  that  not  only  this 
our  craft  is  in  danger  to  he  set  at  naught,  but 
that  the  temple  of  the  great  goddess  Diana 
should  be  despised  and  her  magnificence 
should  be  destroyed,  whom  all  Asia  and  the 
world  worshippeth ! "  Demetrius,  the  unc- 
tuous hypocrite,  seems  to  throw  the  real  con- 
sideration into  the  background,  and  to  be 
actuated  mainly  by  concern  for  the  honor  of 
his  goddess.  Ah,  Demetrius,  Demetrius, 
little  do  you,  little  do  your  fellow  craftsmen 
care  for  Diana  and  her  worship,  except  as 
you  get  your  gain  through  her  devotees. 
But  make  the  people  think  you  are  full  of 
zeal  for  religion,  and  under  the  mantle  of 
this  falsehood  cloak  your  motives,  as  you 
rush  through  the  streets  crying,  ''Great 
is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians !  "  Rouse  the  pop- 
ulace, always  ripe  for  mischief,  and  always 
more  furious  than  ever  when  they  think  that 
religion,  something  of  which  they  do  not 
understand  the  first  letter,  and  of  which 
they  are  absolutely  destitute,  is  in  danger. 
Rouse  the  people,  make  a  pious  demonstra- 


"  Couches  of  nature."  73 

tion,  O  Demetrius,  but  know  that  he  who 
recorded  it  all  for  future  ages,  wrote  down 
your  inmost  secret  —  "By  this  craft  we 
have  our  wealth!" 

Another  instance  of  hypocrisy  similar  to 
that  of  Demetrius,  occurred  at  Philippi. 
Paul  and  his  comrades  had  spoiled  the  busi- 
ness of  certain  ones  who  had  in  charge  a 
damsel  who  uttered  prophecies  and  told  for- 
tunes, by  casting  out  her  w  spirit  of  divina- 
tion." w  And  when  her  masters  saw  that  the 
hope  of  their  gains  was  gone,  they  caught 
Paid  and  Silas  and  drew  them  into  the  mar- 
ket-place unto  the  rulers,  and  brought  them 
to  the  magistrate,  saying,  These  men  being 
dews  do  exceeding  trouble  our  city,  and 
teach  customs  which  are  not  lawful  for  us 
to  observe,  being  Romans."  It  is  patriot- 
ism that  furnishes  the  cloak  in  this  case. 
NTo  allusion  to  their  loss  of  money  —  surely 
not;  what  matters  that?  "He  who  steals 
my  purse  steals  trash/'  But  Ave  must  do 
our  duty  by  our  fellow-citizens.  "We  must 
not  let  these  Jewish  notions  corrupt  our 
civilization.  We  are  loyal  Romans,  let  all 
the    world   know!     Is  there  not  something 


74  -rot  and  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtblc. 

in  this  incident  to  suggest  the  truthfulness 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  remark,  "Patriotism  is  the 
last  refuge  of  a  scoundrel?" 

The  result  of  the  uproar  was  that  the 
apostles  were  beaten  and  cast  into  prison. 
Somehow  it  was  soon  discovered  that  they 
themselves  were  Roman  citizens,  wand 
when  it  was  day,  the  magistrates  sent  the 
sergeants,  saying,  Let  these  men  go.  And 
the  keeper  of  the  prison  told  this  saying 
to  Paul,  The  magistrates  have  sent  to  let 
you  go;  now,  therefore,  depart  and  go  in 
peace."  It  is  now  Paul's  turn  to  be  indig- 
nant, and  he  is  not  the  man  to  let  the 
opportunity  slip.  Paul  insisted,  as  he  had 
a  right  to  do,  upon  his  dignity  as  a  Roman 
citizen.  He  tartly  replied,  !fThey  have 
taken  us  openly,  uncondemned,  being  Ro- 
mans, and  have  cast  us  into  prison;  and 
do  they  now  thrust  us  out  privily V  Nay, 
verily;  but  let  them  come  themselves  and  fetch 
us"  A  touch  of  nature  there!  "And  they 
came  (meekly  enough  now,  those  pompous 
magistrates)  and  brought  them  out" 

A  man  who  never  lacked  courage  was 
Paul.     It  had  been  told  him  that  there  were 


"  Soucbes  of  future/1  75 

certain  ones  among  the  Corinthians  who 
had  respect  for  his  letters,  but  something 
bordering  on  contempt  for  his  person. 
wFor  his  letters,  they  say,  are  weighty  and 
powerful,  but  his  bodily  presence  is  weak 
and  his  speech  contemptible."  This  is  his 
answer:  f'  Let  such  an  one  think  this,  that 
such  as  we  are  in  word  by  letters,  when  we 
are  absent,  such  will  we  be  also  in  deed, 
when  we  are  present."  Let  those  scoffers 
look  to  themselves! 

In  lighter  and  almost  playful  vein,  is  his 
remark  about  the  church  at  Corinth,  in  his 
second  letter:  "Truly  the  signs  of  an  apos- 
tle were  wrought  among  yon  in  all  patience, 
in  signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds." 
And  yet  there  was  one  point  in  which  the 
Corinthian  church  was  inferior  to  others: 
"For  what  is  it  wherein  ye  were  inferior  to 
other  churches,  except  it  he  that  I  myself 
was  not  bur densome  unto  you  f >"  Paul  had 
allowed  the  other  churches  with  which  he 
labored  to  support  him,  but  to  the  Corin- 
thian church  he  had  not  accorded  the  same 
privilege.  He  had  favored  it  with  no  oppor- 
tunity for  benevolence.  "  Forgive  me," 
he  exclaims,  ^this  wronyT 


76  TKHit  anD  Ibumor  of  tbc  JStble. 

Paul  relates  thai  <>n  one  occasion  he  had 
a  dispute  with  Peter  at  Antioch,  in  which 
he  K  withstood  Peter  to  the  face,  because 
Peter  was  to  blame."     It  is  to  be  doubted 

■whether  Peter  ever  quite  forgot  this  dispute. 
The  memory  of  it  may  have  lingered  and 
been  particularly  active  when  he  referred  in 
one  of  his  own  letters  to  "our  beloved 
brother  Paul  who,  according  to  the  wisdom 
given  unto  him,  hath  written  unto  you;  as 
also  in  all  his  epistles  speaking  of  these 
things;  in  which  are  some  things  hard  to 
be  understood,  which  they  that  are  unstable 
and  unlearned  do  wrest,  as  they  do  also 
the  other  Scriptures,  (pray  do  not  think 
that  I  am  making'  brother  Paul's  writings 
an    exception)  to  their  own  destruction." 

There  is  another  phase  of  this  general 
subject  that  is  reserved  for  separate  treat- 
ment in  the  following  chapter.  We  pause 
here  to  say  that  the  people  of  Bible 
times  have  been  removed  from  the  people  of 
to-day  by  a  chasm  too  wide  and  deep.  We 
have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  them 
as  belonging  to  another  race — almost  to  an- 
other world.    It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  they 


M  Ccucbcs  of  future.'1  '  < 

were  "  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves." 
It  seems  almost  like  sacrilege  to  intimate 
that  they  had  their  follies  and  weaknesses; 
that  they  did  things  absurd  and  laughable, 

and  sometimes  went  farther  and  did  things 
that  were  mean  and  wicked.  There  was  a 
vast  deal  of  human  nature  in  those  sublime 
characters,  (rail  Hamilton  sums  them  up 
as  follows:  "Adam  had  dominion  over  the 
earth,  but  he  attempted  to  shield  himself 
from  the  divine  displeasure  by  laying  the 
blame  upon  his  wife,  which  no  gentleman 
would  ever  do.  Noah  was  a  "just  man  and 
perfect  in  his  generation,'  if  you  do  not  mind 
an  occasional  fit  of  drunkenness.  Abraham 
was  a  fine  old  sheik,  a  truly  heroic  figure, 
brave,  generous,  courteous,  hospitable,  mag- 
nanimous; no  wonder  the  haughty  Jews 
loved  to  remember  and  repeat  that  they 
were  Abraham's  children.  But  Abraham 
had  his  weaknesses  and  fell  before  his 
temptations;  and  Isaac  followed  in  his  foot- 
steps. Of  Jacob  perhaps  the  least  said 
the  better,  though  he  maintained  his  posi- 
tion as  head  of  his  family  with  unrelenting 
vigor,  calling  no  man  master,  either  son  or 


78  rat  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

king.  There  may  have  been  other  men 
whose  life  was  r  without  fear  and  without 
reproach';  but  their  history  is  unknown  to 
us;  their  portrait  is  hardly  more  than  a 
name." 


IV.     THE   SENSE  OF   HUMOR  IN  JESUS. 

"When  a  child,  with  child-like  apprehensions  that 
dived  not  beneath  the  surface  of  the  matter,  I  read  those 
parables  —  not  guessing  the  involved  wisdom  —  I  had 
more  yearnings  toward  that  simple  architect  that  built 
his  house  upon  the  sand,  than  I  entertained  for  his  more 
cautious  neighbor  ;  I  grudged  at  the  harsh  censure  pro- 
nounced upon  the  quiet  soul  that  kept  his  talent ;  and 
prizing  their  simplicity  beyond  the  more  provident,  and 
to  my  apprehension,  somewhat  unfeminine  wariness  of 
their  competitors,  I  felt  a  kindness  that  amounted  almost 
to  a  tendre  for  those  thoughtless  virgins.  I  have  never 
made  an  acquaintance  since  that  lasted,  or  a  friendship 
that  answered,  with  any  that  had  not  some  tincture  of  the 
absurd  in  their  characters." —  Charles  Lamh. 


(79) 


THE   SENSE   OF   HUMOR   IN  JESUS. 

"  Amid  the  sorrow,  disappointment,  agony,  and  anguish 
of  the  world,  —  our  dark  thoughts  and  tempestuous  passions, 
the  gloomy  exaggerations  of  self  will,  the  enfeebling  illusions 
of  melancholy,  — wit  and  humor,  light  and  lightning,  shed 
their  soft  radiance  and  dart  their  electric  flash." —  Whipple. 

"How  curious  it  is,"  says  the  Autocrat 
of  the  Breakfast  Table,  "that  we  always 
consider  solemnity,  and  the  absence  of  all 
gay  surprises  and  encounters  of  wits,  as 
essentia]  to  the  idea  of  the  future  life  of  those 
whom  we  thus  deprive  of  half  their  facul- 
ties and  then  call  Messed!  There  are  not  a 
few  who,  even  in  this  life,  seem  to  be  pre- 
paring themselves  for  that  smileless  eter- 
nity by  banishing  all  gayety  from  their 
hearts  and  all  joyousness  from  their  coun- 
tenances." Rather  than  believe  in  the 
"smileless  eternity"  of  such  as  these,  Ave 
should  accept  the  conjecture  of  Soame  Jen- 
nings, that  "a  portion  of  the  happiness  of 
seraphim  and  just  men  made  perfect  would 


*2  TOt  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  ftible. 

be  derived  from  an  exquisite  perception  of 
the  Ludicrous." 

To  that  school  of  melancholy  teachers 
who  frown  upon  all  pleasantry,  and  buttress 
their  gloomy  position  with  the  assertion 
that  "Jesus  wept  but  never  smiled,"  the 
title  of  this  chapter  Avill  be  particularly 
offensive.  It  will  strike  them  as  down- 
right blasphemy  to  intimate  that  Jesus  pos- 
sessed and  used  the  sense  of  humor  so 
common  to  mankind.  We  assuredly  appre- 
ciate the  delieacy  of  the  position,  and  shall 
endeavor  to  avoid,  in  our  treatment  of  this 
subject,  anything  that  might  wound  the 
most  sensitive  sold. 

There  are  several  considerations  that  Avill 
pave  the  way.  We  take  it  for  granted  that 
Jesus  was  a  complete  human  being,  and 
that  as  such  a  being  he  must  have  had  all 
the  human  attributes  and  faculties, —  the  fac- 
ulty of  mirthfulness  among  them.  lie  was 
a  man,  and  lacked  nothing  that  pertains 
to  men.  Then,  too,  had  he  been  without 
the  sense  of  humor,  much  in  the  lives  and 
characters  of  those  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal,  he  never  could  have  understood  and 


Zbc  Sense  of  ibumcr  in  Scsus. 


83 


reached.  The  full  success  of  bis  mission 
depended  upon  his  knowing  all  that  there 
is  in  man,  and  upon  being  able  to  gain 
access  to  him  through  every  avenue  of  his 
nature. 

Nor  were  the  circumstances  of  his  life 
unfavorable  to  the  development  of  this  par- 
ticular attribute.  Theology  and  Art  have 
conspired  to  produce  upon  the  world  the 
impression  that  Jesus  was  an  exceptionally 
wretched  and  suffering  man.  They  have 
taken  one  or  two  expressions  in  Isaiah, 
such  as,  "his  countenance  was  marred," 
r'he  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief,"  expressions  which  they  misun- 
derstood and  misapplied,  and  with  them 
have  laid  the  foundations  of  their  house  of 
woe.  They  have  seized  upon  a  few  of  the 
sadder  incidents  of  his  career,  and  have 
exaggerated  them  into  undue  prominence, — 
have  given  them  undue  proportions.  Espe- 
cially have  they  made  much  of  his  agony 
in  the  garden  and  his  death  upon  the 
cross.  These  events  have  been  magnified 
into  such  mountains  that  all  the  rest  of  his 
life     seems    to     lie     hidden     beneath     their 


s  i  mit  and  ibumor  of  tbe  JSible. 

shadows.  It  appears  never  to  have  entered 
the  mind  of  either  preacher  or  painter  that 
the  physical  anguish  of  his  death  must 
have  been  even  less  than  that  which  many 
martyrs  at  the  stake  or  martyrs  upon  sick- 
beds have  borne;  and  that  before  death 
came,  he  had  lived  a  life  with  many  bright 
days  and  many  happy  experiences.  His 
existence  upon  earth  Avas  not  a  protracted 
sorrow,  a  monumental  grief.  Many  a 
rose  had  blossomed  at  his  feet  before 
the  thorns  were  twisted  into  a  crown  for 
his  brow. 

\\  nat  shall  we  say  of  the  thirty  peaceful 
years  under  his  father's  roof,  with  his 
brothers  and  sisters?  Did  he  not  in  boy- 
hood have  the  amusements  of  other  chil- 
dren? Is  there  not  a  memento  of  his  youth- 
ful sports  in  what  he  says  of  the  games  of 
the  children  in  the  market-place,  when  they 
were  playing  at  weddings  and  funerals? 
Did  he  not,  when  a  young  man,  delight  in 
his  home  and  in  his  companions?  Can  we 
imagine  that  he  moved  among  those  who 
were  nearest  and  dearest  to  him,  with  a 
a    face    to   which    a    smile  was    as    much    a 


&be  Sense  of  f>umot  in  Jeeue.  8;> 

stranger   as   a   tropic  flower  to  the   frozen 

/one? 

When,  as  a  mature  man.  he  entered  upon 
his  public  ministry,  although  he  was  exposed 
to  frequent  attack-  from  the  representatives 
of  the  established  religion,  vet  he  was  never 
without  friends;  never  without  a  place  of 
refuge  from  the  heat  of  battle.  There  were 
many  homes  in  which  a  welcome  always 
awaited  him,  and  whose  hospitality  he 
gladly  accepted.  Is  it  probable  that  he  was 
accustomed  to  sit  in  these  homes  —  to  use 
Shakespeare's  phrase — "like  his  grandsire 
cut  in  alabaster?" 

More  than  once  we  are  directly  told  that 
"he  rejoiced  in  spirit;"  more  than  once  he 
spoke  of  his  "joy  "to  his  disciples.  There 
is  much  evidence  that  Jesus  was  not  a 
wretched  but  a  happy  man.  Did  this  happi- 
ness never  express  itself  in  words  or  coun- 
tenance? 

There  are  other  considerations  that  go  far 
to  refute  the  dismal  assertion  that  "Jesus 
wept  hut  never  smiled."  Tired  mothers 
brought  their  children  to  him  and  he  re- 
buked the    supercilious  disciples  who   inter- 


86  xuit  and  Ibumor  of  tbc  Bible. 

fered.  Can  we  think  that  on  this  occasion 
lie  had  a  woe-begone  look?  We  read  of 
him  often  at  feasts;  would  he  have  been  in- 
vited if  he  had  been  accustomed  to  sit  at  the 
the  table  like  the  skeleton  at  an  Egyptian 
banquet?  Did  he  not  by  his  frequent  attend- 
ance upon  festive  occasions  incur  the  odium 
of  being*  a  wine-bibber  and  a  glutton?  lie 
was  also  a  favorite  with  the  common  people. 
They  heard  him  gladly.  But  there  must 
have  been  something  attractive  in  his  pres- 
ence and  manner,  as  well  as  in  his  words, 
and  the  words  themselves  must  have  ap- 
pealed to  the  shrewd,  homely,  common  sense 
of  his  hearers.  If  he  had  been  the  sad  spirit 
he  has  been  pictured,  would  the  people  have 
followed  him  and  listened  to  him  as  they  did? 
"When  we  leave  the  outward  circumstances 
and  the  presumption  they  furnish,  and  ex- 
amine the  fragments  of  his  speech  that  have 
been  preserved  for  us,  many  of  them  cer- 
tainly contain  the  element  of  humor.  We 
should  undoubtedly  call  it  humor  if  it 
came  from  any  other  lips  than  those  of 
Jesus ;  if  we  found  it  in  any  other  book  than 
the  New  Testament. 


Zhc  Sense  of  fmmoc  in  3csus.  87 

The  purpose  < >f  this  chapter  will  be  grossly 
misapprehended,  however,  if  any  one  shall 
suppose  that  we  are  trying  to  degrade  Jesus 
to  the  level  of  a  professional  joker.  Nothing 
is  further  from  our  intention.  The  very 
thought  is  repulsive.  One  may  have  and 
use  the  sense  of  humor  without  putting  on 
the  cap  and  bells.  He  may  use  it  with  the 
highesl  motives  and  for  the  noblest  ends.  It 
was  said  of  Hosea  .Ballon,  that  "it  was  no 
uncommon  thing*  for  him  when  preaching  to 
excite  a  smile;  but  usually  it  was  done  by 
some  ingenious  argument  that  would  elec- 
trify every  one  present."  His  biographer 
adds:  'rIt  is  not  known  that  any  person 
ever  listened  to  one  of  his  sermons  who  was 
not  so  impressed  with  his  sincerity,  dignity 
and  earnestness,  that  the  recollection  of  his 
occasional  humorous  sayings  was  held  sub- 
sidiary and  helpful  to  his  main  serious  pur- 
pose. His  mother-wit  was  sanctified.  It 
served  a  divine  mission  in  diffusing  cheer- 
fulness and  health."  We  must  always  re- 
member that  wit  and  humor  do  not  mean 
buffoonery. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  any  one 


88  *HClft  an&  Ibumor  of  tbe  mbie. 

can  read  many  of  the  parables  and  other 
sayings  of  Jesus,  and  still  believe  the  doleful 
tale  that  he  "wept  but  never  smiled."*  lie 
saw  the  dancing  lights  as  well  as  the  deep 
shadows,  the  more  genial  and  even  ludicrous 
aspects  of  life,  as  well  as  its  various  phases 
of  sorrow  and  sin,  and  all  these  furnished 
subjects  for  his  discourse  as  well  as  illustra- 
tions for  his  teaching. 

Let  us  now  consider  some  of  the  ways  in 
which  the  sense  of  humor  in  Jesus  mani- 
fested itself. 

I. 

The  sense  of  humor  often  tempered  his 
rebukes.  There  was  often  sunshine  on  the 
cloud. 

There  were  times,  indeed,  as  we  shall  see, 
when  he  spoke  with  unmeasured  severity, 
when  his  words  fell  like  fiery  hail,  beating 
and  burning  the  heads  of  offenders;  but 
anon  he  spoke  half  smiling,  half  pitying,  as 
if  disposed  to  laugh  at  the  very  inconsisten- 
cies he  censured.  In  this  respect  his  spirit 
has  been  caught  by  Addison  and  Goldsmith, 
by  Irving  and  Dickens.     Richter  says  that 


Gbc  Sense  of  ttmmor  in  3csua.  89 

"no  one  has  a  right  to  laugh  at  men  but  he 
who  most  heartily  loves  them."  Taine  says 
of  Dickens,  "  Before  reading  him  we  did  not 
know  there  was  so  much  pity  in  the  heart." 
Jesus  loved  men,  he  pitied  them,  even  while 
his  eye  detected  and  his  words  exposed  their 
faults  and  foibles. 

He  had  looked  with  pleasure  (remember- 
ing his  own  childhood),  upon  the  games  of 
the  boys  and  girls  in  the  streets  of  Jerusa- 
lem; he  thought  of  their  whimsical  com- 
plaints, as  they  played  at  weddings  and  fu- 
nerals in  the  market-place.  On  one  occasion, 
his  severity  mitigated  by  bis  sense  of  the 
ludicrous,  he  exclaimed,  "  "Whereunto  shall 
I  liken  this  generation?  and  to  what  are  they 
like?  They  are  like  unto  children  sitting  in 
the  market-places  and  calling  to  one  another 
and  saying,  We  have  piped  unto  you  and 
ye  have  not  danced;  we  have  mourned  unto 
you  and  ye  have  not  lamented."  Everything 
had  gone  wrong.  The  others  would  not 
play  fair.  They  would  not  dance  when  we 
wanted  to  play  wedding;  they  would  not  be 
mourners  when  we  wanted  to  play  funeral. 
We  have  done  all  we  could  to  please  them. 


M  xuit  anD  Ibumor  of  tbc  JBiblc. 

but  they  are  "too  mean  for  anything."  To 
the  mind  of  Jesus,  the  people  of  that  gener- 
ation appeared  to  be  making  the  same  com- 
plaint. They  were  childishly  dissatisfied 
with  every  divine  messenger, —  none  could 
please  them.  rf  For  John  the  Baptist  came 
neither  eating  bread  nor  drinking  wine," — 
solemn,  gloomy,  austere;  but  they  would 
have  none  of  him.  lie  mourned  unto  them, 
but  they  would  not  lament.  They  would 
not  "play  at  funeral"  with  him.  They 
turned  away  and  said,  w  lie  hath  a  devil." 
Then  came  the  Son  of  Man,  bright  and 
cheerful,  "  eating  and  drinking,"  but  they 
would  not  dance  to  his  piping.  They  pointed 
at  him  and  said,  "Behold  a  gluttonous  man 
and  a  wine-bibber,  a  friend  of  publicans  and 
sinners!"  It  was  impossible  to  please  that 
generation. 

If  we  place  this  passage  side  by  side  with 
the  following  from  Goldsmith,  we  shall  see 
at  once  that  if  there  be  humor  in  the  latter, 
there  must  also  be  humor  in  the  former. 
The  subject  is  the  reception  accorded  the 
Chinese  philosopher  who  tried  to  please  his 
friends  by  his  demeanor  upon  the  death  of 


Cbc  Sense  ot  Ibumcr  in  $ee\X8.  91 

an    English    sovereign:     "I    thought    it   at 

least  my  duty  to  appeal-  sorrowful;  to  put 
on  a  melancholy  aspect,  or  to  set  my  lace  by 
that  of  the  people.  The  first  company  I 
came  amongst  after  the  news  became  gen- 
eral was  a  set  of  jolly  companions  who  were 
drinking  prosperity  to  the  ensuing  reign.  I 
entered  the  room  with  looks  of  despair,  and 
even  expected  applause  for  the  superlative 
misery  of  my  countenance.  Instead  of  that, 
T  was  universally  condemned  by  the  company 
and  desired  to  take  away  my  penitential  phiz 
to  some  other  quarter.  I  now  corrected  my 
former  mistake,  and  with  the  most  sprightly 
air  imaginable  entered  a  company  where 
they  were  talking  over  the  ceremonies  of  the 
approaching  funeral.  Here  I  sat  for  some 
time  with  an  air  of  pert  vivacity,  when  one 
of  the  chief  mourners  immediately  observing 
my  good  humor  desired  me,  if  I  pleased,  to 
go  and  grin  somewhere  else;  they  wanted 
no  disaffected  scoundrels  there.  Finn,  thou 
son  of  Fo,  what  sort  of  people  am  I 
amongst?"  Whereunto  shall  I  liken  this 
generation  ? 

There  was  a  certain  time  when  multitudes 


'•'-  "CClit  an£  Ibumor  of  tbe  JSiblc. 

followed  Jesus,  not  knowing  what  they  were 
about,  but  simply  swept  along  by  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  moment.  lie  saw  that  they 
understood  not,  so  he  turned  and  gave  them 
this  gentle  caution :  >r  Which  of  you  intend- 
ing to  build  a  tower  sitteth  not  down  first 
and  counteth  the  cost,  whether  he  have  suf- 
ficient to  finish  it  ?  Lest,  haply,  after  he  hath 
laid  the  foundation  and  is  not  able  to  finish, 
all  that  behold  it  begin  to  mock  him,  saying. 
This  man  began  to  build  and  was  not  able 
to  finish/'  Whoever  comes  after  me  and 
does  not  count  upon  bearing  his  cross,  is  in 
the  predicament  of  this  foolish  tower-builder, 
—  a  ludicrous  spectacle  as  he  sits  beside  the 
unfinished  structure,  his  materials  exhausted, 
while  all  his  neighbors,  as  they  pass  by,  wag 
the  head  and  point  the  finger.  Such  a  spec- 
tacle as  that  will  each  one  of  you  be  who 
does  not  count  the  cost  of  discipleship. 
With  such  gentle  strokes  of  humor  did 
Jesus  stay  the  thoughtless  multitudes  who 
imagined  that  their  empty  zeal  was  genuine 
loyalty.  lie  set  forth  their  conduct  in  terms 
that  would  most  effectually  impress  upon 
them  its  folly,  —  in  terms  that  appealed  to 
their  sense  of  the  ridiculous. 


£be  Sense  of  tmmor  in  Scsue. 


03 


In  a  sarcastic  paragraph  of  his  French 
Revolution,  Carlyle  speaks  of  the  work  of 
the  National  Convention  thus:  r'In  fact, 
what  can  be  more  unprofitable  than  the  sight 
of  six  hundred  and  forty-nine  ingenious  men 
struggling  with  their  whole  force  and  indus- 
try, for  a  long  course  of  weeks,  to  do  at 
bottom  this;  to  stretch  out  the  old  Formula 
and  Law  phraseology,  so  that  it  may  cover 
the  new,  contradictory,  entirely  uucoverable 
thing?  Whereby  the  poor  formula  does  but 
crack  and  one's  honesty  along  with  it.  The 
thing  that  is  palpably  hot,  burning,  wilt  thou 
prove  it  by  a  syllogism  to  be  a  freezing  mix- 
ture? This  of  stretching  out  formulas  till 
they  crack  is,  especially  in  times  of  swift 
change,  one  of  the  sorrowfullest  tasks  poor 
humanity  has."  Was  it  not  this  very  for- 
mula-stretching that  Jesus  satirized  in  more 
playful  vein.  —  this  formula-stretching  that 
existed  in  old  times  and  that  still  exists, — 
when  he  said:  K  Xo  man  putteth  a  piece  of 
new  garment  upon  an  old;  if  otherwise,  then, 
both  the  new  maketh  a  rent,  and  the  piece 
that  was  taken  out  of  the  new  agreeth  not 
with  the  old"?     You  can  not  patch  up  old 


94  TOt  an&  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

terms  with  new  meanings.  The  new  mean- 
ing agreeth  not  with  the  old  term.  "  And 
no  manputtethnew  wine  into  old  wine-skins; 
else  the  new  wine  will  burst  the  wine-skins 
and  be  spilled,  and  the  wine-skins  shall  per- 
ish. But  new  wine  must  be  put  into  new 
wine-skins,  and  both  are  preserved."  The 
man  who  tries  to  put  new  senses  into  old 
words,  new  ideas  into  old  formulas,  is  like  a 
man  who  cuts  up  a  new  garment  to  mend  an 
old;  like  one  who  puts  wine  not  yet  done 
fermenting  into  a  skin  whose  capacity  ad- 
mits no  further  strain.  He  spoils  his  new 
eoat  and  he  loses  his  new  wine. 

With  such  illustrations  as  these,  illustra- 
tions embodying  a  figure  or  comparison  or 
situation  essentially  amusing,  was  Jesus 
wont  to  temper  his  rebukes. 


II. 


The  sense  of  humor  in  Jesus  enabled  him 
to  detect  j^retension,  imposture,  hypocrisy, 
and  expose  them  to  the  derision  of  mankind. 

If  Ave  should  find  in  Dickens  or  Thack- 
eray such  pictures  as  Jesus  has  given  of  the 


Sbc  Sense  of  Ibumor  in  Sesns. 


95 


Scribes  and  Pharisees,  they  would  strike  us 
at  once  as  the  wvy  quintessence  of  humor. 
"They    go  arrayed  in   long  clothing,  they 
love  the  uppermost  rooms  at  feasts  and  the 
chief  seats  in  the  synagogues."     They  are 
always  posturing  to  attract  attention.    "  They 
love  greetings  in  the  market-places,  to  be 
called  of  men  Rabbi,  Rabbi."     In  their  way, 
they  are  as  much  given  to  "deportment"  as 
Mr.  Turveydrop,  when  he  says,  "  I  suppose 
I  must  now  go  and  show  myself  about  town ; 
it   will  be  expected    of   me;'     When   they 
pray,  they  do  it  standing  in  the  synagogues 
or  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  that  all  may 
see  how  pions  they  are ;  when  they  perform 
their  deeds  of  righteousness,  a  trumpet  is 
sounded  before  them,  to  make  solemn  proc- 
lamation;   as   who   should    say,   "Will    the 
public  please  take  notice;    I   am   about    to 
drop  a  mite  into  this  poor  widow's  hand." 
When  they  fast  they  put  on  "a  sad  counte- 
nance   and    disfigure     their     faces"     with 
fictitious  woe  and  weeping,  "that  they  may 
appear  unto  men  to  fast."     "See  how  I  lay 
the    dust   with    my    tears,"    says    Launce. 
Everything  they  did  was  done    for   effect; 


96  vait  and  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

nothing  came  from  the  heart.  Their  religion 
was  the  veriest  sham.  They  had  well-nigh 
reached  the  measure  of  South's  ideal  hypo- 
crite, "  who  never  opens  his  mouth  in  earnest, 
but  when  he  eats  or  breathes."  Wellmight 
Jesus  say,  "The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in 
Moses'  seat;  all  things,  therefore, whatsoever 
they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do,  bid 
do  ye  not  according  to  their  tvorls;  for  they 
say  and  do  not."  Does  not  this  remind  us 
of  Pecksniff,  "  who  was  a  most  exemplary 
man,  fuller  of  virtuous  precepts  than  a  copy- 
book; but  some  people  likened  him  to  a 
direction-post  which  is  always  telling  the 
way  to  a  place,  and  never  goes  there." 


III. 


Xot  only  did  the  sense  of  humor  in  Jesus 
enable  him  to  unmask  pretentious  hypocrites, 
but  also  to  expose  the  absurdities  that  the 
multitudes  commonly  practiced  in  the  name 
of  religion. 

There  are  those,  for  example,  who  in 
prayer  use  w  vain  repetitions,"  thinking  that 
they  shall  be  heard  for  their  "much  speak- 


Zbc  Sense  of  "Ibumor  in  $e£U0.  97 

ing."  They  estimate  the  efficacy  of  prayer 
by  its  quantity  and  not  by  its  quality .  They 
think  thai  if  they  only  keep  al  it  long 
enough,  if  they  only  use  multitudes  of  words, 
they  will  surely  attract  attention  on  high. 

There  arc  others  who  think  that  religion 
consists  in  the  "washing*  of  pots  and  cups 
and  such  like  things"  and  they  "lay  aside 
the  commandment  of  God."  One  of  their 
representatives  in  modern  literature  is  Dolly 
Winthrop,  who  tells  Silas  Marner  about  the 
letters  "  I.  II.  S."  pricked  upon  the  ( Jhristmas 
cakes:  "  I  can't  read 'em  myself ,  and  there's 
nobody,  not  Mr.  Macey  himself,  rightly 
knows  what  they  mean;  but  they've  a  good 
meaning,  for  they're  the  same  as  is  on  the 
pulpit-cloth  at  Church;  an'  if  there's  any 
good,  we've  need  of  it  in  this  world." 

It  is  curious  how  the  superstition  of  ex- 
ternalism  has  affected  many,  even  noble 
minds.  Dr.  Johnson  once  said  of  John 
Campbell,  a  political  and  philosophical 
writer,  "Campbell  is  a  good  man,  a  pious 
man;  I'm  afraid  he  has  not  been  inside  of  a 
church  for  a  good  many  years,  but  he  never 
passes  a  church  without  pulling  off  his  hat. 
This  shows  he  has  good  principles." 


98  TOt  anfr  Ibumor  of  the  JBfble. 

IV. 

Jesus  pereeived  the  blunders  of  the  well- 
meaning,  but  ignorant  and  ambitious,  —  such 
as  the  man  who  went  to  the  wedding  party 
without  suitable  garments,  and  was  uncere- 
moniously shown  to  the  door;  such  as  the 
obtuse  people  who,  invited  to  a  feast,  always 
took  the  seats  of  honor  and  were  as  often 
courteously  escorted  to  scats  further  down 
the  tabic.  When  the  "more  honorable  man" 
came,  the  host  would  say,  "Give  this  man 
place,"  and  the  other  would  "begin  with 
shame  to  take  the  lowest  scat."  Jesus  saw 
these  blunders,  and  we  cannot  believe  that 
he  was  blind  to  their  comical  side.  He  must 
have  felt  that  the  mistake  was  a  ludicrous 
one,  even  when  he  advised  the  stupid  people 
who  made  it,  "When  thou  ait  bidden,  go 
and  sit  down  in  the  lowest  room;  that  when 
he  that  bade  thee  comet h,  he  may  say. 
Friend,  go  up  higher;  and  then  thou  shalt 
have  worship  in  the  presence  of  them  that  sit 
at  meat  with  thee." 

V. 

The  sense  of  humor  in  Jesus  is  still  fur- 


Zhc  Sense  of  fmmot  in  JesuB.  °9 

ther  shown  by  his  selection  of  characters  for 
his  parables  and  illustrations.  How  many 
of  them  arc  what  we  should  call  "  odd  sticks" 
to-day! 

Could  any  <  >ne  devoid  of  humor,  or  opposed 
to  its  use,  have  described  such  odd  or  eccen- 
tric people  as  the  fool  who  thought  that  sand 
was  as  good  a  foundation  for  his  house  as 
rock;  or  the  drowsy  friend  roused  at  mid- 
night to  lend  his  neighbor  bread  and  scolding 
furiously  at  the  annoyance?  Then  we  have 
the  shepherd's  coward  hireling  who  ran  away 
from  his  flock  when  he  saw  the  wolf  coming; 
the  foolish  rich  man;  the  unscrupulous 
steward  who  provided  for  himself  by  cheat- 
ing his  master;  the  three  fellows  who  made 
such  puerile  excuses  for  absenting  them- 
selves from  the  king's  banquet, —  one  was 
interested  in  a  real  estate  transaction, 
another  was  dealing  in  stock,  while  the 
third  had  just  "married  a  wife."  Perhaps 
the  characterization  of  all  these  excuses  as 
puerile,  may  be  too  sweeping.  This  lasl 
case  may  be  an  exception.  Having  just  en- 
tered the  holy  estate  of  matrimony,  any 
plans   this  man  might   have   formed  before 


1(W  lUit  at^  Ibumor  of  tbe  Bible. 

that  event  were  of  course  subject  to  re- 
vision. Let  us  not  be  too  hard  upon  him. 
It  may  be  thai  he  rests  under  too  heavy  a 
load  of  censure.     lie  may  even  be  deserving 

of  sympathy.  lie  said  —  was  there  a  sug- 
gestion of  desperation  in  his  words?  —  K  I 
have  married  a  wife  and  therefore  I  can  not 
come."  The  king  ought  very  likely  to  have 
exempted  this  man  from  his  wrath;  for  he 
seems  to  say,  f'I  should  like  to  come, 
but—  !" 

Then  there  was  the  servant  who,  in  his 
lord's  absence,  got  above  his  business,  as- 
sumed the  master,  became  drunken  in  the 
company  of  roisterers,  and  beat  his  fellow- 
servants;  but  was  at  last  put  to  shame  by 
the  sudden  and  unexpected  arrival  of  his 
master.  This  servant  was  a  veritable  Jaques 
who,  in  the  old  play,  assumed  to  be  his  mas- 
ter, the  Duke,  and  who  was  likewise  brought 
to  grief  by  his  master's  return:  ffI  must 
appear  important;  big  as  a  country  peda- 
gogue when  he  enters  the  school-room  with 
a-hem,  and  terrifies  the  apple-munching 
urchins  with  the  creaking  of  his  shoes.  I'll 
swell  like  a  shirt  bleaching  in  a  hiarh  wind: 


£bc  Sense  of  ih  inner  in  Jceug.  101 

and  look  as  burly  as  a  Sunday  beadle  when 
he  has  kicked  down  the  unhallowed  stall  of 
a  profane  old  apple-woman.  Bring  my  chair 
of  state!" 

There  are  other  characters,  such  as  the 
shrewd  laborer  who,  digging  in  a  field,  finds 
a  hidden  treasure  and  secreting  it  goes  and 
buys  the  field;  the  unjust  judge  who  finally, 
completely  tired  out,  gives  way  in  no  very 
amiable  mood  to  the  widow's  unceasing  peti- 
tions for  justice;  the  timid  soul,  who,  fearing 
to  use  his  talent,  hid  it  in  a  napkin  and  buried 
it  in  the  earth;  the  self-righteous  Pharisee 
who  recounts  his  good  deeds  before  the 
Lord  of  the  Temple  and  complacently  con- 
gratulates himself  that  he  is  not  as  other 
men!  w  God,  T  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as 
the  rest  of  men,  extortioners,  unjust,  adul- 
terers, or  even  as  this  publican.  I  fast  twice 
in  the  week;  I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  get  !" 
Mr.  Pecksniff  once  more!  —  so  satisfied  with 
himself,  f\s<>  radiant  with  ingenuous  honesty 
that  Mrs.  Lupin  almost  wondered  not  to  see 
a  stained-glass  glory,  such  as  the  saint  wore 
in  the  church,  shining  about  his  head!  "' 


102  -rot  and  tbumor  of  tbc  Jeible. 

VI. 

In  the  introduction,  reference  was  made 
to  the  words  of  Mr.  Shorthouse  which  sug- 
gested this  investigation.  This  seems  a 
fitting  place  to  present  the  only  example 
in  which  Mr.  Shorthouse  lias  carried  out  his 
own  suggestion,  —  the  Parable  of  the  Prodi- 
gal Son. 

I  > 1 1 1  is  it  true  that  there  is  no  humor  in 
the  gospels?  c  What  strokes  of  nature,  if 
not  of  humor,'  to  use  Mr.  Addison's  words 
again,  may  we  find  in  the  story,  let  us  say,  of 
the  Prodigal  Son?  What,  in  the  light  of  the 
modern  conception  of  humor,  will  come  out 
of  this? 

Here,  surely,  there  is  no  want  of  real  life,  of 
low  life,  even.  Here  is  a  wild  young  scamp,  as 
like  Tom  Jones  as  heart  could  wish.  Here  is 
ingratitude,  forgetfulness  of  parents,  riotous 
living,  taverns,  harlots,  what  not?  Then 
beggary,  and  feeding  swine,  and  living  upon 
husks.  Then  when  evil  living  is  found  not 
to  answer,  penitence  —  like  Tom  Jones 
again. 

And* when  he   was    yet  a  great  way  off 


Gbc  Sense  of  fjumor  in  Scsus.  103 

his  father  saw  him,'  along  the  stony  road  be- 
neath the  vine-clad  hills.  Who  can  tell  how 
often  the  lather's  eves  had  gazed  longingly 
down  the  road  since  his  son's  figure,  gay, 
reckless  of  the  benefits  just  bestowed,  ac- 
companied by  servants,  eager  for  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  world,  had  vanished  from  his 
sight?  Now,  at  last,  after  so  long  waiting 
and  looking,  he  sees  in  the  far  distance,  a 
very  different  sight.  lie  sees  a  solitary  fig- 
ure, worn  and  bent  down,  in  rags,  dragging 
on  its  weary  steps;  how  could  the  old  man's 
gaze  expect  such  a  sight  as  this?  Never- 
theless, his  father  knew  him,  cand  ran  and 
fell  on  his  neck.'  lie  did  not  wait  for  any 
accents  of  repentance,  nor  did  he  enforce 
any  moral  precepts  which  might  advantage 
posterity.  ?  He  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed 
him.'      Foolish  old  father! 

Tom  Jones  is  brought  in.  He  goes  to  the 
bath.  The  familiar  feeling  of  luxury  comes 
over  him  once  more.  lie  is  clothed  in  fine 
linen,  and  has  a  gold  ring  placed  on  his  fin- 
ger, the  past  seems  an  evil  dream.  Then 
the  fatted  calf  is  killed.  The  banquet  is 
spread  and  there  is  festivity,  music,  and 
dancing-girls. 


104  Wiit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

But  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  his  delight, 
some  trouble  passes  over  the  old  man's  face; 
his  eldesl  son  is  not  in  his  place,  and  they 
bring  him  word  that  he  is  without  and  re- 
fuses  to  come  in.  Some  perception  of  a 
neglected  truth  passes  through  the  father's 
mind,  and  he  rises  and  goes  out.  r  There- 
fore came  his  father  out  and  entreated  him.' 

The  eldest  son  has  been  out  all  day  work- 
ing in  the  vineyards;  all  his  life  had  been 
one  long  performance  of  duty,  taken  for 
granted,  and  therefore  unpraised  and  unrec- 
ognized. In  how  many  households  will 
silent  witness  be  borne  that  this  is  real  life 
—  the  gentle  and  obedient  service  over- 
looked —  nay,  more  than  this,  the  cross  word 
or  hasty  temper  where  there  is  no  fear  that 
it  will  be  returned. 

*A11  these  years  have  I  served  thee  *  *  * 
and  yet  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid  that  I 
might  make  merry  with  my  friends.'  I  am 
a  man  like  others,  gayety  and  feasting  are 
pleasant  to  me,  as  to  them. 

A  look  of  perplexed,  but  growing  insight 
comes  into  the  father's  face.  ?  Son,  thou  art 
ever  with  me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine.' 


XLbc  Sense  of  tbumot  in  Resits.  ln:' 

This  is  all  very  well,  still  he  is  conscious 
that  there  is  something  to  be  said  for  the 
eldest  son,  too.  But  his  lost  son  —  his  way- 
ward, and  therefore  loved  son,  is  conic  again. 

?It  is  meet  that  we  should  make  merry 
and  be  glad,  for  this  thy  brother  was  dead 
and  is  alive  again.'  We  can  see  the  pitiful, 
pleading  look  in  the  old  man's  eyes,  —  'thy 
brother  was  dead/ 

Yes,  Addison  must  be  right.  Nature  and 
humor  cannot  he  far  apart.  The  source  and 
spring  of  humor  is  human  life.  Its  charm 
consists,  not  merely  in  laughter  or  even  in 
joy,  but  in  the  stirring  of  those  sympathies 
and  associations  which  exist  invariably  in 
the  race;  for  we  inherit  a  world-life  and  a 
religion,  the  earth-springs  of  whose  realities 
lie,  perchance,  too  deep  for  laughter,  but  not, 
Heaven  be  praised,  too  deep  for  tears." 

Surely  the  examples  given  suggest  an  eve 
for  the  humorous  in  him  who  saw  and 
described  them.  These  illustrations  were 
indeed,  used  to  convey  moral  truths,  but 
they  show  how  wide  was  the  acquaintance 
of  Jesus  with  all  sorts  of  characters,  and  how 
he  loved  to  use  such  as  were  out  of  the  ordi- 


106  rat  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBiblc. 

nary;  such  as,  to-day,  we  should  at  least 
call '"peculiar.''  A  recognition  of  this  fact 
will  help  us  better  to  appreciate  and  more 
thoroughly  to  enjoy  those  simple,  yet  won- 
derful parables,  out  of  which  the  heavy  hand 
of  a  severely  literal  criticism  would  crush 
all  ff  touches  of  nature." 


V.     PROVERBS    AND    EPIGRAMMATIC    SAYINGS. 

"  Proverbs,  must  not  be  passed  over  in  our  enumera- 
tion, —  proverbs,  the  philosophy  of  the  common  people  ; 
short,  pithy,  homely  sayings  that  embody  the  concentrated 
essence  of  the  common  people's  wisdom.  It  has  been 
difficult  to  give  a  perfect  definition  of  a  proverb,  so 
crowded  is  it  with  the  life  of  shrewdness  and  experience  ; 
yet  so  easy  and  negligent  is  it,  and  saucy  as  it  were.  Its 
characteristic  excellences  are  shortness,  sense  and  salt. 
It  is  the  wit  of  one  man,  the  wisdom  of  thousands."  — 
Macbeth. 


(107) 


PROVERBS   AND    EPIGRAMMATIC 
SAYINGS. 

"  The  proverbialists  occupy  themselves  with  life  in  all  its 
aspects.  Sometimes  they  simply  catch  the  expression  of 
men,  good  or  bad,  or  photograph  their  actions  or  thoughts; 
more  generally  they  pass  a  verdict  npon  them  and  exhort  or 
instruct  men  in  regard  to  them.  *  *  *  Some  of  the  prov- 
erbs have  a  certain  flavor  of  humor." — Davidson. 

w  The  wise  men  of  old,"  says  Whipple, 
"  have  sent  most  of  their  morality  down  the 
stream  of  time  in  the  light  skiff  of  apothegm 
or  epigram:  and  the  proverbs  of  nations 
which  embody  the  common  sense  of  nations, 
have  the  brisk  concussion  of  the  most  spark- 
ling wit.  Almost  every  sensible  remark  on 
folly  is  a  witty  remark.  Wit  is  thus  often 
but  the  natural  language  of  wisdom,  viewing 
life  with  a  piercing  and  passionless  eye." 
The  object  of  the  present  study  is  to  con- 
sider those  proverbs  and  other  epigrammatic 
sayings  which  distinctly  contain  the  element 
of  wit  in  some  form  or  other,  and  which  are 
so  liberally  scattered  over  the  pages  of  the 
Bible. 

CI«".0 


110  ^it  and  Ibumor  of  tbe  Jfifble. 

I. — The  ]><>o k  of  Pbovekbs. 

In  such  an  investigation,  Ave  naturally 
turn,  first  of  all,  to  that  great  collection  of 
proverbs,  with  which  the  name  of  Solomon 
has  become  identified.  They  do  not,  how- 
ever, represent  his  genius  alone,  although 
we  shall  frequently  use  his  name  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  whole  class  of  philosophers. 
They  are  the  productions  of  many  wise  men 
through  many  generations.  They  are,  in- 
deed, the  outcome  of  the  life  of  a  whole 
people,  put  into  definite  shape  by  those  who 
had  insight  sufficiently  keen  and  power  of 
expression  sufficiently  terse  to  formulate  the 
lessons  of  human  experience  "The  wise 
men,"  says  Canon  Driver,  "  took  for  granted 
the  main  postulates  of  Israel's  creed,  and 
applied  themselves  rather  to  the  observation 
of  human  nature  as  such,  seeking  to  analyze 
character,  studying  action  in  its  conse- 
quences, and  establishing  morality  upon  the 
basis  of  principles  common  to  humanity  at 
large.  On  account  of  their  prevailing  dis- 
regard of  national  points  of  view,  and  their 
tendency  to  characterize  and  estimate  human 


proverbs  anft  Epigrammatic  Savings,       i ]  ] 

nature  under  its  most  general  aspect-,  they 
have  been  termed,  not  inappropriately,  the 
Humanists  of  Israel.  Their  teaching  had  a 
practical  aim;  not  only  do  they  formulate 
maxims  of  conduct,  but  they  appear  also  as 
moral  advisers,  and  as  interested  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  young." 

The  Book  of  Proverbs  is  a  perfect  mine 
of  cunning  and  glittering  sentences,  many 
of  which  are  witty  as  well  as  wise,  and  none 
the  less  wise  because  they  are  witty.  There 
are  swords  that  pierce  the  hidden  motives  of 
men,  and  whips  that  lacerate  the  backs  of 
their  open  follies  and  sins. 

1.     The    Fool. 

There  is  a  personage,  or  more  exactly,  an 
assemblage  of  certain  qualities,  constantly 
held  up  to  ridicule  under  the  general  title  of 
The  Fool.  Kuskin  says  that  f<r  folly  and  sin 
are  to  some  extent  synonymous."  The  Fool 
in  the  Book  of  Proverbs  is  one  who  com- 
bines mental  stupidity  with  moral  obtuseness. 
lie  has  a  hard  time  of  it  at  the  hands  of  the 
proverbialists.     'fIIe   that  begetteth  a  fool 


1 1 2  TOt  and  tmmot  of  tbe  JBible. 

cloeth  so  to  his  sorrow  j  the  father  of  a  fool 
hath  no  joy." 

Foolish  persons  have  always  been  noted 
for  parading  their  folly,  and  sounding  a 
trumpet  to  proclaim  their  lack  of  under- 
standing. So  Solomon  says:  frA  fool's 
mouth  is  his  destruction,  and  his  lips  are  the 
snare  of  his  soul."  rc  The  tongue  of  the  wise 
useth  knowledge  aright;  but  the  mouth  of 
fools  poureth  out  foolishness."  f  When  he 
that  is  a  fool  walketh  in  the  way,  his  wisdom 
faileth  him,  and  he  saith  to  every  one  that  he 
is  a  fool,"  —  his  scanty  supply  of  sense  is  not 
enough  to  last  him  to  the  end  of  his  journey. 
There  is  a  modern  proverb  to  the  same 
effect:  Pf  lie  has  not  wit  enough  to  last  him 
over  night."  Everything  the  fool  under- 
takes  comes  to  grief.  "  He  that  sendeth  a 
message  by  the  hand  of  a  fool  cutteth  off 
the  feet  and  drinketh  damage."  w  The  lal  m  >r 
of  the  fool  wearieth  every  one,  because  he 
knoweth  not  how  to  go  to  the  city."  "  The 
simple  belie veth  every  word,  bat  the  prudent 
man  looketh  well  to  his  going."  "Let  a 
bear  robbed  of  her  whelps  meet  a  man,  rather 
than  a  fool  in  his  folly."     ]So  discipline  can 


proverbs  an&  Epigrammatic  savings.      113 

be  too  severe  for  the  fool.  *  Judgments  are 
prepared  for  scorners  and  stripes  for  the 
1  >ack  of  fools."  "  A  whip  for  the  horse,  a  bri- 
dle for  the  ass,  and  a  rod  for  the  fool's  baek." 
But  Solomon  is  not  sanguine  that  the  most 
rigorous  course  will  produce  extraordinary 
results.  ".V  reproof  entereth  more  into  a 
wise  man  than  a  hundred  stripes  into  a  fool." 
''Wisdom  is  before  him  that  hath  under- 
standing; but  the  eyes  of  a  fool  are  in  the 
ends  of  the  earth."  *  Wherefore  is  there  a 
price  in  the  hand  of  a  fool  to  get  wisdom, 
seeing  he  hath  no  heart  to  it?"  One  can 
almost  see  that  picture  —  the  fool  wander- 
ing about  the  city  with  money  in  his  hand, 
inquiring  where  a  person  in  need  of  it  might 
purchase  a  commodity  of  good  common 
sense.  "  Though  thou  shouldst  bray  a  fool 
in  a  mortar  among  wheat  with  a  pestle,  yet 
will  not  his  foolishness  depart  from  him." 
In  many  other  proverbs  is  the  fool  gibbeted. 
'?  As  snow  in  summer,  and  as  rain  in  harvest, 
so  honor  is  not  seemly  for  a  fool."  r  The 
legs  of  the  lame  are  not  equal ;  ><>  is  a  para- 
ble in  the  mouth  of  fools/'  "As  lie  that 
bindeth  a  stone  in  a  slmsr, ; making  a  danerer- 


1 14  "OEM  anD  Ibumor  of  tbc  JBible. 

ous  weapon,  so  is  he  that  giveth  honor  to  a 
fool."  '?As  a  thorn  goeth  up  into  the  hand 
of  a  drunkard,  so  is  a  parable  in  the  mouth 
of  fools."  ff  It  is  better  to  hear  the  rebuke 
of  the  wise,  than  for  a  man  to  hear  the  song 
of  fools.  For  as  the  crackling  of  thorns 
under  a  pot,  so  is  the  laughter  of  the  fool." 
In  one  chapter  Solomon  describes  a  group 
of  foolish  persons.  fc  For  three  things  the 
earth  is  disquieted  and  for  four  which  it  can 
not  bear;  for  a  servant  when  he  reigneth  " — 
the  modern  instance  is  the  "  beggar  on  horse- 
back," —  ff  and  a  fool  when  he  is  filled  with 
meat;  for  an  odious  woman  when  she  is 
married;  and  a  handmaid  that  is  heir  to  her 
mistress."  These  four  characters  "play 
such  fantastic  tricks  before  high  heaven," 
that  whether  the  P?  angels  weep  "  or  not,  the 
earth  groans  and  is  ff  disquieted."  And  yet 
Solomon  seems  to  have  found  a  more  gro- 
tesque and  incorrigible  character  than  the 
fool:  "  Seest  thou  a  man  wise  in  his  own 
conceit?  There  is  more  hope  of  a  fool  than 
of  him."  The  contempt  of  the  proverbialists 
for  the  class  of  persons  here  described  was 
quite  as  strong  as  that  of  Dr.  Samuel  John- 


proverbs  anD  Epigrammatic  Stagings.       115 

son.  When  some  one  Imped  that  the  good 
doctor  might  meet  in  heaven  a  certain  per- 
son whose  conduct  had  aroused  Ids  ire,  he 
retorted  with  some  warmth,  " Madam,  I  am 
not  fond  of  meeting  fools  anywhere." 

2.     The  Idler. 

How  these  writers  love  to  castigate  lazi- 
ness! They  toss  the  sluggard  on  all  manner 
of  sharp-pointed  epigrams.  fr  lie  that  gath- 
ereth  in  summer  is  a  wise  son ;  he  that  sleep- 
eth  in  harvest  is  a  son  that  causeth  shame." 
w  The  way  of  a  slothful  man  is  as  a  hedge  of 
thorns," —  he  walks  as  slowly  and  painfully 
as  if  avoiding  thorns  on  either  hand.  "As 
vinegar  to  the  teeth  and  as  smoke  to  the 
eves,  so  is  the  sluggard  to  them  that  send 
him."  "The  slothful  man  roasteth  not  that 
which  he  took  in  hunting:."  f  The  sluggard 
will  not  plough  by  reason  of  the  cold,  there- 
fore he  shall  beg  in  harvest  and  have  noth- 
ing. "  "Drowsiness  shall  clothe  a  man  with 
rags."  "  He  that  tilleth  his  land  shall  be 
satisfied  with  bread;  but  he  that  followeth 
vain  persons" — those  who  teach  him  that 


1 16  -mix  and  f>umot  of  tbe  JBiblc. 

there*  is  any  other  way  to  success  than  hon- 
est industry,  —  "is  void  of  understanding." 
"  The  slothful  man  says,  There  is  a  lion 
without;  I  shall  be  slain  in  the  streets." 
"  As  the  door  turneth  upon  its  hinges,  so 
doth  the  slothful  upon  his  bed."  'The  sloth- 
ful hideth  his  hand  in  his  bosom;  it  grieveth 
him  to  bring  it  again  to  his  mouth."  Too 
lazy  to  eat!  This  is  the  very  acme  of  indo- 
lence. 

3.     The  Babbler. 

These  wise  men  recommend,  in  pithy 
terms,  the  judicious  control  of  the  tongue. 
They  commend  the  value  of  silence. 
K  Whoso  keepeth  his  mouth  and  his  tongue 
keepeth  his  soul  from  troubles."  ?  The  be- 
grinning  of  strife  is  as  when  one  letteth  out 
water;  therefore  leave  off  contention  before 
it  be  meddled  with."  "It  is  an  honor  to  a 
man  to  cease  from  strife,  but  every  fool  will 
be  meddling."  "Even  a  fool  when  he  hold- 
eth  his  peace  is  accounted  wise;  and  he  that 
shutteth  his  lips  is  esteemed  a  man  of  under- 
standing."    This  is  the  same  idea  which  Ave 


proverbs  ano  Epigrammatic  Savings.       i 1 7 

find,   in   more;    elaborate    form,   in    Shake- 
speare : 

"  There  are  a  sort  of  men,  whose  visages 
Do  cream  and  mantle  like  a  standing  pond  ; 
And  do  a  wilful  stillness  entertain, 
With  purpose  to  be  drest  in  an  opinion 
Of  wisdom,  gravity,  profound  conceit; 
As  who  should  say,  '  I  am  Sir  Oracle, 
And  when  I  ope  my  lips,  let  no  dog  bark  !  ' 
Oh,  my  Antonio,  I  do  know  of  these, 
That  therefore  only  are  reputed  wise 
For  saying  nothing  :  Who,  I  am  very  sure, 
If  they  should  speak,  would  almost  damn  these  ears, 
Which,  hearing  them,  would  call  their  brothers  fools." 

In  point  of  condensation,  the  wit  of  the 
proverb  has  the  advantage.  Coleridge  re- 
lates an  incident  which  illustrates  that  "even 
a  fool  when  he  holdeth  his  peace  is  ac- 
counted wise,  and  he  that  slmtteth  his  lips 
is  esteemed  a  man  of  understanding."  He 
once  saw,  at  a  dinner  table,  'r  a  dignified 
man  with  a  face  as  wise  as  the  moon's."  The 
awful  charm  of  his  manner  was  not  broken 
until  the  muffins  appeared,  and  then  the  imp 
of  gluttony  forced  from  him  the  exclama- 
tion —  "  Them's  the  jockeys  for  me!  " 


118  rat  an&  tmmor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

There  is  a  passage  concerning  the  tongue 
in  the  Book  of  James,  full  of  sayings  quite 
as  terse  and  striking  as  any  in  the  Book  of 
Proverbs.  r'  If  any  man  offend  not  in  word, 
the  same  is  a  perfect  man,  and  able  also  to 
bridle  the  whole  body."  "The  tongue  is  a 
little  member  and  boasteth  great  things;  be- 
hold how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kin- 
dleth."  "Every  kind  of  beasts  and  birds 
and  serpents  is  tamed,  and  hath  been  tamed 
of  mankind;  but  the  tongue  can  no  man 
tame;  it  is  an  unruly  evil,  full  of  deadly 
poison.  *  *  *  Out  of  the  same  mouth 
proceedeth  blessing  and  cursing.  *  *  * 
Doth  a  fountain  send  forth  at  the  same  place 
sweet  water  and  bitter?" 

This  passage  from  James  may  be  placed 
side  by  side  with  the  familiar  story  of  ^Esop. 
His  master,  Xanthus,  sent  him  to  market 
to  procure  the  best  things  it  afforded. 
When  the  dinner  hour  arrived,  Xanthus  dis- 
covered that  nothing  but  tongues  had  been 
provided.  ""What,"  he  exclaimed  in  a  rage, 
K  did  I  not  tell  you  to  procure  the  best  things 
the  market  afforded?"  "And  have  I  not 
obeyed  your  orders?     Is  there  anything  bet- 


proverbs  ano  Spfgrammatic  Savings,      H9 

ter  than  a  tongue?  Is  it  not  the  bond  of  civil 
society,  the  organ  of  truth  and  reason,  the 
instrument  of  our  praise  and  adoration  of 
the  gods?"  The  next  clay  iEsop  was 
directed  to  go  to  the  market  and  purchase 
the  worst  things  il  afforded.  He  did  so  and 
again  purchased  nothing  hut  tongues. 
"  What!  "  cried  Xanthus,  "tongues  again?" 
"Certainly;  for  the  tongue  is  surely  the 
worst  thing  in  the  world;  it  is  the  instru- 
ment of  all  strife  and  contention,  the  inven- 
tor of  law-suits,  and  the  source  of  all  division 
and  wars;  it  is  the  organ  of  errors,  of  lies, 
of  calumnies,  and  blasphemies." 

"  Therewith  bless  we  the  Lord  and  Father, 
and  therewith  curse  we  men  who  are  made 
after  the  likeness  of  God;  out  of  the  same 
mouth  cometh  forth  cursing  and  blessing." 

4.     The  Scold. 

To  return  to  the  proverbs.  Solomon  had 
some  unhappy  domestic  experiences,  and 
such  proverbs  as  these  may  have  been  the 
outcome  :  "vVs  a  jewel  of  gold  in  a  swine's 
snout,  so  is  a  fair    woman    without    discre- 


120  TKn.it  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  »!We. 

tion."  KA  continual  dropping  in  a  very 
rainy   day,  and    a    contentious   woman   are 

alike.  Whosoever  hideth  her,  hideth  the 
wind."  "It  is  better  to  dwell  in  the  wilder- 
ness than  with  a  contentious  and  angry 
woman."  ff  Better  is  a  dinner  of  herbs 
where  love  is  than  a  stalled  ox  and  hatred 
therewith."  wIt  is  better  to  dwell  in  the 
corner  of  a  house  top  than  with  a  brawling 
woman  in  a  large  house." 

5.     The  Power  of  Money. 

The  proverbialists  had  been  close  observ- 
ers of  human  nature,  and  of  the  ways  of  the 
world.  f*  Hell  and  destruction  are  never 
full,  so  the  eyes  of  a  man  are  never  satis- 
fied." w  A  feast  is  made  for  laughter,  and 
wine  maketh  merry;  but  money  answereth 
all  things."  rf  The  rich  ruleth  over  the  poor, 
and  the  borrower  is  servant  to  the  lender." 
These  wise  men  had  seen  much  to  justify 
the  sharp  arrows  they  shot  at  those  "who 
crook  the  pregnant  hinges  of  the  knee 
where  thrift  may  follow  fawning."  "The 
pool'  is  hated  even  of  his  own   neighbor,  but 


U>rovcrbs  anfr  Bpifirammattc  5av>fnflg.       121 

the  rich  hath  many  friends."  "Many  will 
entreat  the  favor  of  a  prince,  and  every  man 
is  a  friend  to  him  that  giveth  gifts."  "A 
man's  gift  maketh  room  for  him,  and  bring- 

eth  him  before  great  men/'  There  is  an 
incident  in  the  second  Book  of  Kings,  that 
exemplifies,  with  touches  of  humor,  the 
truth  of  these  proverbs.  "And  the  king 
of  Assyria  found  conspiracy  in  Hoshea, 
(king  of  Israel,)  for  he  had  sent  messen- 
gers to  So,  king  of  Egypt,  and  brought  no 
present  to  the  ling  of  Assyria,  as  he  had 
done  year  by  year."  The  king  of  Assyria 
is  greatly  shocked  at  this  sign  of  disre- 
spect. His  feelings  are  outraged  and 
wounded  at  receiving  no  present.  It  is 
suspicious,  very  suspicious  !  Let  this 
Hoshea  be  looked  to.  The  man  who  fails 
to  bring  the  usual  present  is  fit  for  "trea- 
sons, stratagems  and  spoils."  There  is  no 
telling  what  evil  he  may  be  plotting.  Sure- 
ly there  is  "conspiracy  in  him."  "There- 
fore, the  king  of  Assyria  shut  him  up  and 
bound  him  in  prison."  Solomon  was  right — 
"A  man's  gift  bringeth  him  before  great 
men,"  but  the  absence  of  it  bringeth  him 
into  prison  as  a  traitor  I 


122  TOt  anD  Ibumoc  of  tbe  :©fble. 

6.    Miscellaneous. 

Many  other  examples  of  wit  and  wisdom 
might  be  given.  Let  ns  add  a  few  miscel- 
laneous ones.  Solomon  advises  against 
making  long  calls.  Busy  men  would  do 
well  to  hang  this  motto  up  in  their  offices  : 
w  Withdraw  thy  foot  from  thy  neighbor's 
house,  lest  he  weary  of  thee  and  so  hate 
thee."  In  Solomon's  wide  and  varied  ex- 
periences, there  had  evidently  been  occa- 
sional encounters  with  "bores." 

It  may  sometimes  be  well  to  present  a 
stern  front  to  the  slanderer  :  "The  Xorth 
wind  driveth  away  rain,  so  doth  an  angry 
countenance  a  back-biting  tongue." 

Excellent  advice  this  for  those  who  in- 
dorse other  people's  notes  :  crBe  not  one  of 
them  that  strike  hands,  or  one  of  them  that 
are  sureties  for  debts  ;  if  thou  hast  nothing 
to  pay,  why  should  he  take  away  thy  bed 
from  under  thee  ?"  "He  that  hateth  sure- 
ty ship  is  sure." 

There  were  those  in  that  day,  as  well  as 
in  our  own,  who  tried  to  beat  down  the 
price  of  an  article  by  depreciating  its    qual- 


proverbs  ano  jepforammatlc  Savings.       123 

ity  :  "It  is  naught,  it  is  naught,  saith  the 
buyer  ;  but  when  lie  hath  gone  his  way, 
then  he  boasteth."  Donald  G.  Mitchell, 
in  his  charming  book,  Jfy  Farm  at  Edge" 
wood,  has  a  chapter  on  "Dickering"  which 
is,  in  effeet,  an  elaboration  of  the  proverb 
last  quoted.  K  Sometime  or  other,  if  a  man 
enter  upon  farm  life  —  and  it  holds  in  almost 
every  kind  of  life — there  will  come  to  him 
a  necessity  for  bargaining.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  curse,  I  think,  entailed  npon  mankind 
at  the  expulsion  from  Eden,  that  they  should 
sweat  at  a  bargain.  *  *  *  If  I  were  to 
take  the  opinions  of  my  excellent  friends,  the 
purchasers,  for  truth,  I  should  be  pain- 
fully conscious  of  having  possessed  the 
most  mangy  hogs,  the  most  aged  cows,  the 
scrubbiest  veal,  and  the  most  diseased  and 
stunted  growth  of  chestnuts  and  oaks  with 
which  a  country-liver  was  ever  afflicted. 
For  a  time,  in  the  early  period  of  my  novi- 
tiate, I  was  not  a  little  disturbed  by  these 
damaging  statements  ;  but  have  been  re- 
lieved by  learning  on  further  experience 
that  the  urgence  of  such  lively  falsehoods  is 
only  an  ingenious  mercenary  device  for  the 
sharpening  of  a  bargain." 


124  tom  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  Bible. 

IT. — Epigrammatic  Sayings  from  other 
Sources. 

The  epigrammatic  sayings  of  the  Bible 
are  not  confined,  as  Ave  have  already  seen, 
to  the  Book  of  Proverbs.  We  find  them 
elsewhere.  Ilosea  says  of  idolaters,  "They 
have  sown  the  wind  and  they  shall  reap  the 
whirlwind."  Micah  declared  of  the  mer- 
cenary prophets,  "He  that  pntteth  not  into 
their  month,  they  even  declare  war  against 
him."  At  the  same  time  princes  and  judges 
are  so  corrupt,  that  "the  best  of  them  is  as 
a  briar  ;  the  most  upright  is  sharper  than  a 
thorn  hedge." 

Jeremiah  charges  against  the  people,  "As 
a  cage  is  full  of  birds,  so  are  their  houses  of 
deceit."  "Can  the  Ethiopian,"  he  asks, 
"  change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots?" 
and  adds,  "  Then  can  ye  also  do  right  who 
are  accustomed  to  do  evil."  This  is -equiva- 
lent to  the  proverb  of  another  people: 
"  Though  you  feed  milk  to  a  young  snake, 
will  it  leave  off  its  habit  of  creeping  under 
the  hedge?" 

"  Can  a  maid  forget  her  ornaments  or  a 


proverbs  ano  epigrammatic  Savings.       125 

bride  her  attire?"  asks  Jeremiah;  "yet  my 
people  have  forgotten  me  days  without  num- 
ber." "Yea,  the  stork  in  the  heavens  know- 
eth  her  appointed  times;  and  the  turtle  and 
the  crane  and  the  swallow  observe  the  time 
of  their  coming;  but  my  people  know  not 
the  judgment  of  the  Lord."  "As  the  par- 
tridge sitteth  on  eggs  and  hatcheth  them 
not;  so  he  that  getteth  riches  and  not  by 
right,  shall  leave  them  in  the  middle  of  his 
days,  and  at  the  end  shall  be  a  fool." 

Isaiah  admonishes  the  people,  "Lo,  thou 
trustest  in  the  staff  of  this  broken  reed,  on 
Egypt;  whereon  if  a  man  lean,  it  will  go 
into  his  hand  and  pierce  it;  so  is  Pharoah, 
king  of  Egypt,  to  all  who  trust  in  him,"  — 
a  saying  which  calls  to  mind  the  message 
Jesus  sent  to  Herod,  "  Go,  tell  that  fox."  To 
those  who  trusted  in  the  prowess  of  the 
Egyptians,  Isaiah  declares,  K  Xow,  the 
Egyptians  are  men  and  not  God;  and  their 
horses  are  flesh  and  not  spirit."  He  assures 
the  people  that  the  time  will  come  when 
names  shall  be  used  with  greater  discrimina- 
tion,—  "The  vile  person  shall  no  more  be 
called  liberal,  nor  the  churl  said  to  be  boun- 
tiful." 


126  -emit  ano  fmmot  of  tbe  .iBible. 

Job  says :  w  For  vain  man  would  be  wise, 
though  man  be  born  like  a  wild  ass's  colt." 
And  it  is  Job  who  has  given  us  the  common 
expression,  "  I  am  escaped  with  the  skin  of 
my  teeth." 

David  says  of  the  hypocrite:  —  "The 
words  of  his  mouth  were  smoother  than  but- 
ter, but  war  was  in  his  heart;  his  words 
were  softer  than  oil,  but  they  were  drawn 
swords."  "Man  that  is  in  honor  and  under- 
standeth  not,  is  like  the  beasts  which  perish." 
"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no 
God."  Of  the  wicked  the  psalmist  exclaims: 
w  Their  poison  is  like  the  poison  of  a  serpent; 
they  are  like  the  deaf  adder  that  stoppeth 
her  ear;  which  will  not  hearken  to  the  voice 
of  charmers,  charming  never  so  wisely." 
Recalling  an  incident  of  Israel's  journey 
through  the  wilderness,  he  gives  his  opinion 
of  the  transaction  Aaron  tried  to  disclaim : 
"  They  made  a  calf  in  Iloreb  and  worshipped 
the  molten  image.  Thus  they  changed  their 
glory  into  the  similitude  of  an  ox  that  eateth 
<rrass !  "  "  Fools,  because  of  their  trans- 
gressions  and  because  of  their  iniquities  are 
afflicted."     He  says  of  those  who  gave  him 


proverbs  and  Epigrammatic  Savings.       127 

pain,  —  the  "  ploughers  \\  bo  ploughed  upon 
his  back  and  made  long  their  furrows,"  — 
"They  shall  be  as  the  grass  upon  the  house- 
tops which  withereth  before  it  groweth  up; 
wherewith  the  mower  filleth  not  his  hand, 
nor  he  that  bindeth  sheaves  his  bosom." 

Paul  speaks  of  those  "whose  God  is  their 
belly,  and  whose  glory  is  their  shame;  "  and 
also  of  certain  ones  who  w  speak  lies  in  hy- 
pocrisy, having-  their  conscience  seared  with 
a  red-hot  iron/'  "Rulers,"  he  says,  w  are 
not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  evil."  "If 
a  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  something: 
when  he  is  nothing,  he  deceiveth  himself." 

The  Book  of  James  has  already  been 
quoted  in  this  chapter;  but  there  is  another 
passage  of  the  proverbial  or  epigrammatic 
character  that  must  not  be  omitted:  "Be 
ye  doers  of  the  word  and  not  hearers  only, 
deceiving  your  own  selves.  For  if  any  man 
be  a  hearer  of  the  word  and  not  a  doer,  he 
is  like  unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face 
in  a  glass;  for  he  beholdeth  himself  and 
goeth  his  way,  and  straightway  forgetteth 
what  manner  of  man  he  was."  The  Teman 
proverb   is  very  like  this:      '  Whatever  he 


128  xuit  and  *>umor  of  tbe  JBible. 

devoid  of  understanding  may  be  reading, 
his  virtue  continues  only  so  long  as  he  is 
reading;  even  as  a  frog  is  dignified  only  so 
long  as  it  is  seated  on  a  lotus  leaf." 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  the  kind  of 
wit  we  are  now  discussing  is  found  in  the 
account  of  King  Asa's  sickness  and  death. 
The  writer  of  the  Book  of  Chronicles  says : 
T  Yet  in  his  disease  he  sought  not  unto  the 
Lord,  but  to  the  Physicians; "  and  then  adds 
with  imperturbable  gravity,  ff  And  Asa  slept 
with  his  fathers."  Referring  to  this  passage, 
Professor  Matthews  says:  —  ffIt  looks  like 
a  sarcasm  on  the  medical  practitioners  of 
Palestine.*'  There  is  something  similar  to 
this  in  Ecclesiastes :  'Wisdom  is  good  — 
with  an  inheritance,"  an  ancient  instance  of 
"the  old  flag  —  and  an  appropriation." 

III. —  The  Sayings  of  Jesus. 

To  this  chapter  belong  many  of  the  say- 
ings of  Jesus.  He  spoke  in  proverbs  as 
well  as  in  parables. 

f*  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through 
the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 


proverbs  ano  Epigrammatic  Sa^inos.       129 

"Many  are    called,  but  few  are  chosen." 

"The  first  shall  be  last,  and  the  last  first." 

"A  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in 
his  own  country  and  among  his  friends." 

ff  lie  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  ex- 
alted; he  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
abased." 

"Be  ye  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as 
doves." 

"  Physician,  heal  thyself." 

'*Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world;  a  city 
that  is  set  on  an  hill  can  not  be  hid.  Neither 
do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a 
bushel,  but  on  a  candlestick  and  it  giveth 
light  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house." 

n  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead." 

wNb  man  having  put  his  hand  to  the 
plough  and  looking  back  is  fit  for  the 
kingdom  of  God." 

"And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that 
is  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not 
the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye?"  There 
are  several  proverbs  in  other  literatures 
very  like  this.  The  Russian:  —  "A  pig 
came  up  to  a  horse  and  said,  Your  feet  are 
crooked,  and  your  hair  is  worth   nothing." 


130  TKflit  ant)  "fcumor  of  tbe  JBfblc. 

The  Bengal:  —  "The  sieve  said  to  the 
needle,  Yon  have  a  hole  in  your  tail."  The 
Chinese:  —  "Let  every  one  sweep  the  snow 
before  his  own  door,  and  not  busy  himself 
with  the  frost  on  his  neighbor's  tiles." 

:f  Ye  can  not  serve  God  and  Mammon." 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  can  not 
stand." 

K  Beware  of  false  prophets  which  come  to 
you  in  sheep's  clothing,  but  inwardly  they 
are  ravening  wolves.  Ye  shall  know  them 
by  their  fruits.  Do  men  gather  grapes  of 
thorns  or  figs  of  thistles?  " 

"For  unto  every  one  that  hath  to  him 
shall  be  given  and  he  shall  have  abundance ; 
but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken 
away  even  that  which  he  hath." 

"  Wheresoever  the  carcass  is,  there  are 
the  vultures  gathered  together." 

w  Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the 
dogs,  neither  cast  ye  your  pearls  before 
swine,  lest  they  trample  them  under  foot  and 
turn  again  and  rend  you."  Similar  proverbs 
may  be  gathered  from  other  sources.  The 
Persian  says,  "  It  is  folly  to  give  comfits  to 
a  cow;"  the  Yeman,   "Though  yon   anoint 


proverbs  ano  Epigrammatic  Savirms.        131 

an  ass  all  over  with  perfumes,  it  feels  not 
your  fondness,  hut  will  turn  again  and  kick 
you;"  the  Telugu  asks,  w  What  caii  a  pig- 
do  with  a  rose-bottle?"  the  Tamul  says, 
f?  Like  reading  a  portion  of  the  Veda  to  a 
eow  about  to  gore  you;"  and  again, 
"Though  religious  instruction  he  whispered 
into  the  ear  of  an  ass,  nothing  will  come  of 
it  hut  the  accustomed  braying." 

"They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  phy- 
sician, but  they  that  are  sick."  Such  say- 
ings of  Jesus  are  true  proverbs  and  instances 
of  genuine  wit. 

Archbishop  Trench  says,  "Any  one  who 
by  after  investigation,  has  sought  to  discover 
how  much  our  rustic  hearers  carry  away 
even  from  sermons  to  which  they  have  atten- 
tively listened,  will  find  it  is  hardly  ever  the 
course  or  tenor  of  the  argument,  supposing 
the  discourse  to  have  contained  such;  but 
if  anything  is  uttered,  as  it  used  so  often  to 
be  by  the  best  Puritan  preachers,  tersely, 
pointedly  and  epigrammatically,  this  will 
have  stayed  by  them  while  all  the  rest  has 
passed  away.  Great  preachers  to  the  peo- 
ple, such  as  have  ever  found  their  way  to 


132  TOt  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

the  universal  heart  of  their  fellows,  have 
ever  been  great  employers  of  proverbs." 
This  principle  helps  to  explain  why,  in  the 
case  of  Jesus,  "  the  common  people  heard 
him  gladly." 


VI.     REPARTEE. 

"  He  that  can  define,  he  that  can  answer  a  question 
so  as  to  admit  of  no  further  answer,  is  the  best  man. 
Jesus  spent  his  life  conversing  with  humble  people  on  life 
and  duty,  in  giving  wise  answers,  showing  that  he  saw 
at  a  larger  angle  of  vision,  and  at  least  silencing  those 
who  were  not  generous  enough  to  accept  his  thoughts." — 
Emerson. 


<m) 


REPARTEE. 

"And  no  one  was  able  to  answer  him  a  word,  neither 
durst  any  man  from  that  day  forth  ask  him  any  more  ques- 
tions."— Matthi  "•. 

The  present  chapter  brings  us  to  the  sub- 
ject of  Repartee.  Of  this  form  of  wit,  Pro- 
fessor Matthews  says,  "Xothing  is  more 
admirable,  nothing  more  quickly  enlists  our 
sympathies,  than  this  perfect  command  and 
quick,  instantaneous  concentration  of  the 
faculties,  when  a  man  is  taken  at  a  disad- 
vantage and  has  to  repel  an  insinuation  or 
an  insult  at  a  moment's  warning.  That 
felicity  of  instantaneous  analysis  which  we 
call  readiness,  has  saved  thousands  of  men 
from  mortification  or  contempt.  The  dex- 
trous leap  of  thought  by  which  the  mind 
escapes  from  a  seemingly  hopeless  dilemma 
is  worth  more  than  all  the  logic  and  learn- 
ing of  the  world."  "The  impromptu  reply," 
says  Moliere,  "is  precisely  the  touchstone 
of  wit." 


136  -rat  anfc  tmmor  of  tbe  JBiblc. 

The  images  of  the  Bible  are  sometimes 
enlivened  by  sharp  repartees.  The  men  of 
old  time,  the  men  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
understood  the  power  of  the  quick  and 
flashing  answer,  as  well  as  more  modern 
generations.  Johnson  and  Foote  and 
Sheridan  might  have  found  it  by  no  means 
easy  to  hold  their  own  in  Judea.  It  is  very 
likely  that  their  powers  would  have  been 
put  to  the  severest  test. 


I. 


Turning  to  the  pages  of  the  old  Testa- 
ment, we  find  many  striking  examples. 

Ben-hadad  sends  word  to  the  king  of 
Israel,  threatening  to  destroy  his  army. 
The  king  of  Israel  replies,  "Tell  him, 
Let  not  him  that  girdeth  on  his  harness, 
boast  himself  as  he  that  putteth  it  off." 

Amaziah  desired  war  with  Jehoash.  He 
sends  to  him  saying,  "Come,  let  us  look 
one  another  in  the  face."  Jehoash  simply 
responds  to  the  presumptuous  challenge, 
"The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon  sent  to 
the    cedar   that   was    in    Lebanon,   saying, 


•Repartee.  137 

Give  thy  daughter  to  my  son  to  wife.  And 
there  passed  by  a  wild  beast  that  was  in 
Lebanon  and  trod  down  the  thistle." 

Job  retorts  upon  Zophar,  alter  a  weari- 
some recital  of  dreary  commonplaces  in- 
tended for  comfort,  "No  doubt  but  ye  are 
the  people,  and  wisdom  will  die  with  you. 
But  I  have  understanding  as  well  as  you; 
I  am  not  inferior  to  you;  yea,  who  know- 
eth  not  such  things  as  these?"  To  the 
speech  introduced  by  these  words,  Eliphaz 
sharply  replies,  "Art  thou  the  first  man 
that  Avas  born?  or  wast  thou  made  before 
the  hills?  Hast  thou  heard  the  secret  of 
God,  and  dost  thou  restrain  wisdom  to  thy- 
self? What  knowest  thou  that  we  know 
not?  What  understandest  thou  which  is 
not  in  us?  With  us  are  both  the  gray- 
headed  and  very  aged  men,  much  elder 
than  thy  father."  Upon  this  latter  senti- 
ment Elihu  expresses  himself  when  he  finds 
opportunity  to  put  in  a  word ;  "  Great  men 
are  not  always  wise,  neither  do  the  aged 
understand  judgment." 

Indeed  the  Book  of  Job  abounds  in  sharp 
speeches  and  replies  as  cutting  as  the  speeches 


138  xuit  m*  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBfble. 

they  answer.  The  sufferer  obstinately  re- 
fuses to  accept  their  theory  of  his  affliction 
or  to  adopt  the  remedies  his  friends  propose. 
*  Ye  are  forgers  of  lies,"  he  exclaims,  "  ye 
are  physicians  of  no  value.  O  that  ye  would 
altogether  hold  your  peace,  and  it  should  be 
your  wisdom."  In  response  to  this  appeal, 
Eliphaz  becoming  piqued  proceeds  to  ad- 
minister consolation  with  the  lash:  "  Shall 
a  wise  man  utter  vain  knowledge,  and  fill  his 
belly  with  the  east  wind?  Should  he  reason 
with  unprofitable  talk  or  with  speeches 
wherewith  he  can  do  no  good?"  "I  have 
heard  many  such  things,"  cries  the  wretched 
Job,  "miserable  comforters  are  ye  all.  If 
your  soul  were  in  my  soul's  stead,  I  could 
heap  up  words  against  you,  and  shake  mine 
head  at  you;  but  I  would  strengthen  you 
with  my  mouth,  and  the  moving  of  my  lips 
should  assuage  your  grief." 

There  were  some  word-battles  between 
Sanballat  and  Xehemiah  while  the  latter  was 
trying  to  build  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and 
the  former  was  doing  his  best  to  hinder  the 
enterprise.  "Come,"  says  Sanballat,  "let 
us  meet  together  in  one  of  the  villages  in 


"Repartee.  139 

the  plain  of  Ono," — let  us  be  friendly,  let  us 
have  a  pleasant  visit  together, —  "but  he 
thought  to  do   me   mischief."     The   crafty 
Sanballat  did  not  take  the  builder  of  Jeru- 
salem  napping.     Nehemiah  replies,  "lam 
doing  a  great  work  so  that  I  can  not  come 
down;  why  should  the  work  cease  whilst  I 
leave  it  to  come  down  to  you?"     Are  your 
wishes  of  such  mighty  importance,  O  Sanbal- 
lat that  I  should  leave  the  Lord's  work?  Must 
the  building  cease  that  I  may  gratify  your 
whim?     Go  to,  Sanballat,  go  to;  I  cannot 
come  down.     My  work  is  great  and  noble; 
thou  art   a  trifler  and  hypocrite!     In  pre- 
cisely this  vein  was  Spurgeon's  reply  to  the 
pious  bore  who  sent  up  word,  "  Tell  him  a 
servant  of  the  Lord  wishes  to  see  him."     It 
was  Saturday  afternoon,  and  Spurgeon  re- 
plied, "  Tell  him  I  am  busy  with  his  Master!" 
Sanballat  will  have  at  him  again:     "It  is 
reported  among  the  heathen,  and   Gashmu 
said  it,  that   thou    and  the   Jews    think   to 
rebel;  for  which   cause   thou   bulkiest  the 
wall  that  thou  mayest  be  their  king,  accord- 
ing to  these  words.    And  thou  hast  appointed 
prophets  to  preach   of  thee  at   Jerusalem, 


140  -OEM  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBlblc. 

saying,  There  is  a  king  in  Judah ;  and  now 
shall  it  be  reported  to  the  king  according  to 
these  words.  Come  now,  therefore,  and  let 
ns  take  counsel  together."  To  this  tissue 
of  falsehoods  manufactured  by  the  menda- 
cious Gashmu,  Nehemiah  flashes  back  with 
indignation,  ?r  There  are  no  such  things  as 
thou  sayest,  but  thou  f  eignest  it  out  of  thine 
own  heart."  Nehemiah  comes  very  near 
giving  what  Touchstone  would  call  the  "  lie 
direct,"  and  he  gives  it  without  the  qualify- 
ing "If." 

Robert  Collyer  has  the  following  com- 
ment upon  Gashmu,  who  was  quoted  by 
Sanballat  as  authority  for  the  charge  that 
Xehemiah  was  going  to  set  up  for  a  king : 
"  This  only,  this  one  thing  is  left:  A  good 
man  was  doing  a  good  work  with  all  his 
might,  and  bad  men  tried  to  hinder  him. 
They  tried  to  hurt  his  person.  Gashmu  was 
above  that.  He  was  none  of  your  common 
rowdies.  Sanballat  and  Tobiah  might  do 
that,  but  not  Gashmu ;  yet  Gashmu  will  sit 
there  and  nurse  his  dislike,  and  be  glad  to  hear 
the  petty  stories  that  float  like  thistledown 
through  the  neighborhood  against  the  inno- 


•Repartee.  141 

cent  man;  words  are  twisted  and  turned  to 
meanings  Nehemiah  never  thought  of,  and 
Gashmu  hopes  they  are  true;  he  wishes  they 
were  true;  the  wish  is  father  to  the  thought, 
and  he  believes  them.  *  *  *  So  Gashmu 
has  permitted  his  prejudices  to  grow  into  a 
lie.  Gashmu  is  to  live  thousands  of  years 
for  one  purely  false  assertion,  and  to  be  the 
representative  man  of  unprincipled  gossips 
and  narrow  bigots  as  long  as  the  world 
stands." 

Another  illustration.  When  the  woman, 
in  time  of  famine,  appealed  to  the  King  of 
Israel  as  he  passed  by,  fr  Help,  my  lord,  O 
King,"  he  turned  upon  her  with  the  some- 
what grim  rejoinder,  "  If  the  Lord  do  not 
help  thee,  whence  shall  I  help  thee?"  Her 
case  was  hopeless,  if  the  Lord  could  do 
nothing. 

Although  the  resemblance  is  not  very 
strong,  this  incident  suggests  a  story  of 
Michael  Angelo.  It  calls  to  mind  the  way 
in  which  he  took  revenge  upon  Biagio  di 
Cesena.  This  courtier  ventured  to  criticise 
his  Last  Judgment.  With  a  swift  stroke  he 
turned  the  Minos  of  the  fresco  into  a  like- 


142  xdit  anfc  fbumor  of  tbe  JBfble. 

ness  of  his  critic.  Biagio  complained  to  the 
Pope.  "Where  has  he  placed  you?"  in- 
quired the  Pontiff.  w  In  Hell,"  said  Biagio. 
"lain  sorry,"  replied  the  Pope;  "If  it  had 
been  in  Purgatory,  something  might  have 
been  done,  but  in  Hell  I  have  no  jurisdic- 
tion." 

II. 

Examples  of  prompt  and  keen  retort  are 
not  confined  to  the  Old  Testament.  When 
we  turn  to  the  Mew  Testament,  we  find 
additional  illustrations. 

When  Paul  was  making  his  defence  be- 
fore the  Council,  he  said,  "Men  and  breth- 
ren, I  have  lived  in  all  good  conscience  be- 
fore God  until  this  day."  This  declaration 
of  innocence  offended  the  High  Priest  An- 
anias, and  he  commanded  those  who  stood 
by,  to  smite  the  speaker  on  the  mouth. 
This  raised  the  indignation  of  Paul,  and 
with  the  swiftness  of  an  arrow  he  transfixed 
the  Priest,  "God  shall  smite  thee,  thou 
whited  wall;  for  sittest  thou  to  judge  me 
after  the  law  and  commandest  me  to  be 
smitten  contrary  to   the    law?"     This   was 


IRcpartcc.  143 

understood  as  a  bolt  of   invective   by  those 

who  heard  it,  for  they  asked  in  alarm,  "Ke- 
vilest  thou  God's  High  Priest?"  The  an- 
swer of  Paul  was  a  still  more  subtle  sarcasm: 
w I  wist  not,  brethren,  that  he  was  the  High 

Priest"  There  was  nothing  in  the  conduct 
of  the  man  to  betoken  the  dignity  of  his 
office.  God's  High  Priest  must  surely  be 
fair  and  impartial.  God's  High  Priest 
would  never  counsel  violence.  The  mis- 
take, Paul  would  imply,  was  perfectly  nat- 
ural and  excusable. 

There  is  a  story  of  John  Randolph  not 
unlike  this.  Indeed,  the  sarcasm  is  the 
same  in  spirit  and  purpose.  Paul  admitted 
that  "one  must  not  revile  God's  High 
Priest,"  but  he  did  not  perceive  that  the 
High  Priest  was  present.  The  coarse,  loud, 
ill-tempered  person  who  commanded  to 
smite  him  on  the  mouth  could  not  be  High 
Priest !  The  following  was  the  occasion  of 
Randolph's  sarcasm:  During  the  winter  of 
1834  a  member  of  the  House,  to  whom  he 
was  much  attached,  died.  His  place  was 
taken  by  a  young  man,  vain  and  ambitious, 
who  began  his  career  by  making   a   bitter 


144  -rot  an&  Ibumot  of  tbe  JBfble. 

attack  on  Mr.  Randolph.  Xo  reply  was 
made  by  the  latter.  Several  days  passed, 
when  a  question  came  up  in  which  he  was 
deeply  interested,  and  he  delivered  a  very 
earnest  and  impressive  speech.  As  he 
closed,  he  said,  "I  should  not,  Mr.  Speak- 
er, have  returned  to  press  this  matter  with 
so  much  earnestness,  had  not  my  views  pos- 
sessed the  sanction  and  concurrence  of  my 
late  departed  friend,  ivliose  seat,  I  lament, 
is  now  unhappily  vacant" 

How  skillfully,  in  the  story  of  the  young 
man  who  had  heen  healed  of  his  blindness, 
does  the  subject  of  the  cure  parry  the 
thrusts  of  the  synagogue  authorities! 
"Give  God  the  praise,"  they  exhort,  "we 
know  that  this  man  is  a  sinner! "  K Whether 
he  be  a  sinner  or  no,"  says  the  young  man, 
"I  can  not  tell;  one  thing  I  know  that 
whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see."  Thus 
repulsed,  they  begin  again.  "What  did  he 
to  thee?  How  opened  he  thine  eyes?" 
He  replies,  "I  have  told  you  already,  and 
ye  did  not  hear;  wherefore  would  ye  hear 
it  again?  Will  ye  also  be  his  disciples?" 
Stung  to  the  quick,  they  revile  him,  w  Thou 


"Repartee.  145 

art  his  disciple,  but  we  are  Moses'  disciples. 
We  know  that  God  spake  unto  Moses,  hut 
as  for  this  fellow  we  know  not  from  whence 
he  is!"  Thoroughly  aroused,  the  young 
man  sends  home  to  them  a  final  thrust: 
w  Why  herein  is  a  marvelous  thing  that  ye 
know  not  from  whence  he  is,  and  yet  he 
hath  opened  mine  eyes?  Xow  we  know 
that  God  heareth  not  sinners;  but  if  any 
man  be  a  worshipper  of  God  and  doeth  his 
will,  him  he  heareth.  Since  the  world  be- 
gan, was  it  not  heard  that  any  man  opened 
the  eyes  of  one  born  blind.  If  this  man 
were  not  of  God,  he  could  do  nothing!" 
Abuse  and  excision  alone  remain  to  the 
rulers  of  the  synagogue.  "Thou  wast  alto- 
gether born  in  sins,  and  dost  thou  teach 
us?"  And  they  cast  him  out.  Excommu- 
nication is  the  sole  answer  of  priest-craft 
and  bigotry  to  reason. 


III. 


To  many  readers  it  may  seem  impious  to 
say  that  under  the  head  of  Repartee  we 
must  classify  many  of  those  words  of  Jesus 


146  TOt  and  fmmot  of  tbe  JGible. 

with  which  he  cuts  through  the  sophistry  of 
opponents  and  disentangles  himself  from 
theAvebs  that  are  woven  about  him.  Let  it 
be  remembered,  however,  that  we  are  deal- 
ing with  his  utterances  simply  as  literature ; 
with  their  religious  significance,  we  are  not 
now  concerned.  We  are  discussing  the 
sayings  of  Jesus  as  we  would  the  sayings 
of  Johnson  or  Goldsmith. 

One  of  the  most  striking  instances  is 
found  in  the  controversy  over  exorcism. 
When  the  scribes  who  came  down  from 
Jerusalem  charged,  "He  hath  Beelzebub 
and  by  the  prince  of  the  devils  casts  he  out 
devils,"  he  quickly  reduced  the  accusation 
to  an  absurdity:  "How  can  Satan  cast  out 
Satan?  If  he  rise  up  against  himself  and 
be  divided,  he  cannot  stand,  but  hath  an 
end."  He  goes  further  — ff  If  I  by  Beelze- 
bub cast  out  devils,  by  whom  do  your  chil- 
dren cast  them  out?  " 

There  was  one  occasion,  however,  when 
Jesus  himself  seems  to  have  been  vanquished 
by  a  swift  rejoinder.  When  the  Syro-Pheni- 
cian  woman  came  to  him  in  behalf  of  her 
daughter,  in  order  to  test  her  faith  he  said, — 


IRcpartce.  547 

"Let  the  children  first  be  filled,  for  it  is  not 
meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  to 
cast  it  unto  the  clogs/'  rYvs,  Lord,''  she 
answered,  "yet  the   dogs   Tinder  the   table 

eat  of  the  children's  crumbs."  These  words 
came  from  a  bright  intellect  as  well  as  from 
a  trusting  heart.  Jesus  appreciated  the 
keenness  of  the  reply  no  less  than  the 
confidence  it  expressed.  "  For  this  saying 
go  thy  way;  the  devil  is  gone  out  of  thy 
daughter."  "For  once,"  says  Macbeth, 
"Jesus  was  refuted  and  that  by  his  own 
figure ;  and  he  wished  to  be  refuted." 

How  we  enjoy  such  a  dilemma  as  the  one 
in  which  he  placed  the  chief  priests  and  the 
scribes  and  the  elders !  They  asked  him,  "  By 
what  authority  doest  thou  these  things? 
And  who  gave  thee  authority  to  do  these 
things?"  "I  will  also  ask  of  you  one 
question,"  says  Jesus,  "  and  answer  me,  and 
I  will  tell  you  by  what  authority  I  do  these 
things  —  the  baptism  of  John,  was  it  from 
heaven,  or  of  men?  answer  me."  "And 
they  reasoned  with  themselves,  saying,  If  we 
shall  say  from  heaven,  he  will  say,  Why  then 
did  ye  not  believe  him?     But  if  we  shall  say 


148  -rot  and  t>umot  of  tbe  Bible. 

of  men,  —  they  feared  the  people;  for  all 
men  counted  John  that  he  was  a  prophet, 
indeed.  And  they  answered  and  said  unto 
Jesus,  We  can  not  tell."  ff  And  Jesus  ans- 
wered and  said  unto  them,  Neither  tell  I 
you  by  what  authority  I  do  these  things." 

Another  time  '•  came  to  Jesus  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  which  were  of  Jerusalem,  saying, 
"Why  do  thy  disciples  transgress  the  tra- 
dition of  the  Elders?  for  they  wash  not 
their  hands  when  they  eat  bread?"  How 
quick  and  effective  the  reply:  ,fWhy  do 
ye  also  transgress  the  commandment  of  God 
by  your  tradition?"  Nothing  could  be  said 
in  response.  The  question  was  absolutely 
closed.  The  disciples  violate  your  tradition? 
Very  good;  but  what  does  your  tradition 
violate?  Can  we  not  see  his  opponents, 
falling  back  beaten,  knitting  their  brows, 
taking  counsel  together,  planning  some 
overwhelming  defeat  for  this  impudent 
young  heretic?  "What  Thersites  said  of 
Ajax  would  well  apply  to  them:  f?He  bites 
his  lips  with  a  politic  regard,  as  who  should 
say,  There  were  wit  in  this  head  an'  '  twould 
out;  and  so  there  is,  but  it  lies  as  coldly  in 


"Repartee.  149 

him  as  fire  in  a  flint,  which  will  not  show 
without  knocking." 

"When  the  woman  poured  the  spikenard 
on  the  head  of  Jesus,  Judas,  the  virtuous 
Judas,  forsooth!  made  objection.  "Why 
was  not  this  ointment  sold  for  three  hundred 
pence  and  given  to  the  poor?"  Why  not, 
indeed, — for  Judas  is  custodian  of  the  poor 
fund.  "  Judas,"  returns  his  Master,  —  and 
there  was  pathos  as  well  as  rebuke  in  the 
words,  —  "Judas,  the  poor  ye  have  with  you 
always,  and  whenever  ye  will,  ye  may  do 
them  good."  This  was  the  first  time  Judas 
had  ever  manifested  any  solicitude  for  the 
poor.  "But  me,  ye  have  not  always." 
Judas  was  silenced;  but  he  began  to  brood 
revenge.  Soon  he  stole  out  and  went  to  the 
chief  priests.  He  had  not  secured  the  price 
of  the  spikenard,  but  he  would  indemnify 
himself  by  selling  his  Master ! 

With  what  relish  do  we  read  the  trench- 
ant replies  of  Jesus  to  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  and  Herodians  who  had  leagued 
to  "entangle  him  in  his  talk."  Easily  as 
Samson  broke  the  green  withes,  did  he 
break  the  verbal  fetters  they  forged.     "  In 


150  imiit  ano  Ibumoc  of  the  Mbie. 

the  resurrection,  they  neither  marry  nor 
are  given  in  marriage!"  "Render  unto 
Caesar  the  tilings  that  are  Csesar's,  and  unto 
God  the  things  that  are  God's."  What  can 
be  more  admirable  viewed  simply  as  repar- 
tee,—  as  illustrations  of  the  "dexterous  leap 
of  thought  by  which  the  mind  escapes  from 
a  seemingly  hopeless  dilemma?"  If  one 
were  to  read  such  fragments  of  Gospel  his- 
tory for  the  first  time,  without  the  idea  that 
he  must  attach  a  solemn  and  awful  meaning 
to  every  word,  how  would  he  delight  in 
these  intellectual  contests  and  hail  the 
genius  of  the  victor ! 

After  the  besiegers,  in  the  preceding 
incident,  had  exhausted  their  fruitless  ingen- 
uity, Jesus  turns  upon  them  with  the  ques- 
tion, "What  think  ye  of  Christ?  Whose 
Son  is  he?"  "The  Son  of  David,"  they 
feebly  mutter.  "  How  then  doth  David  call 
him  Lord?  If  David  call  him  Lord,  how  is 
he  his  son?"  That  ended  the  controversy. 
The  combined  forces  of  theology  and  poli- 
tics retired  in  confusion,  evidently  looking, 
as  Dickens  said  of  the  portraits  of  the  Ded- 
lock  family,  "  as  if  they  did  not  know  what 


IRepartce.  151 

to  make  of  it."  They  had  lost  the  battle. 
One  can  imagine  the  evangelist  who  after- 
wards wrote  the  account,  almost  chuckling 
with  inward  satisfaction,  as  he  recalled  the 
scene  and  recorded  the  result:  "And  no 
man  was  able  to  answer  him  a  word,  neither 
durst  any  man  from  that  day  ask  him  any 
more  questions." 


VII.     WIT  AND   LOGIC. 

"  AVho  would  say  that  truth  ought  to  stand  disarmed 
against  falsehood,  or  that  the  enemies  of  the  faith  shall 
be  at  liberty  to  frighten  the  faithful  with  hard  words  or 
jeer  at  them  with  lively  sallies  of  wit,  while  the  Christians 
ought  never  to  write  except  with  a  coldness  of  style 
enough  to  set  the  reader  asleep?  " — Augustine. 


(1SS) 


WIT  AND   LOGIC. 

"  I  was  not  gone  far  before  I  heard  the  sound  of  trumpets 
and  alarms,  which  seemed  to  proclaim  the  march  of  an 
Enemy ;  and  as  I  afterwards  found  was  in  reality  what  I 
apprehended  it.  There  appeared  at  a  great  distance  a  very 
shining  light,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  a  person  of  most  beauti- 
ful aspect;  her  name  was  Truth.  On  her  right  hand,  there 
marched  a  male  deity,  who  bore  several  quivers  on  his 
shoulders,  and  grasped  several  arrows  in  his  hand.  His  name 
was  Wit." — Addison. 

Ix  her  essay  on  Heine,  George  Eliot 
writes:  "Every  one  who  has  had  the 
opportunity  of  making  the  comparison,  will 
remember  that  the  effect  produced  on  him 
by  some  witticisms  is  closely  akin  to  the 
effect  produced  on  him  by  subtle  reasoning 
which  lavs  open  a  fallacy  or  absurdity;  and 
there  are  persons  whose  delight  in  such 
reasoning  always  manifests  itself  in  lauarh- 
ter.  This  affinity  of  wit  with  ratiocination 
is  the  more  obvious  in  proportion  as  the 
species  of  wit  is  higher  and  deals  less  with 
words  and   with   superficialities   than   with 

(155) 


15G  TOt  an&  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

the  essential  qualities  of  things.     Some  of 
Dr.   Johnson's   most    admirable    witticisms 
consist   in   the    suggestion   of    an    analogy 
which  immediately  exposes  the  absurdity  of 
an  action  or  proposition;  and  it  is  only  their 
ingenuity,  condensation  and  instantaneous- 
ness  which   lift  them  from   reasoning   into 
wit."      The    opinion  of    George    Eliot    has 
been  shared  by  others.     Pitt  declared  that 
w  all  wit  is  true  reasoning,"  and  Rogers  says 
that  "wit  is  truth."     A  French  writer  has 
observed  that  "  reason  needs  to   be    armed 
with    the    terrible     epigram."      And    even 
solemn     John    Milton    writes     of     Plato's 
dialogues,  "There  is  scarce   one    of  them, 
especially  wherein   some   notable    sophister 
lies    sweating    and    turmoiling    under    the 
inevitable  and  merciless  dilemmas  of  Socra- 
tes, but  he  that  reads,  were  it  Saturn  him- 
self, would  be  robbed  of  more  than  a  smile/' 
There  are  in  literature  abundant  examples 
of  the  condensed  logic  of  wit,  —  the  logic 
that  exposes  a  fallacy,  answers  an  objection 
and  demolishes  an  argument,  without  resort- 
ing to  major  and  minor  premise  and  formal 
conclusion.     One  or  two  of  these  may  pave 


lUit  an*  Xcfltc.  157 

the  way  to  the  main  purpose  of  this  chapter. 
"  Where  was  your  Protestant  Church  before 
Luther?"  asked  a  Catholic  of  Wilkes. 
"Did  you  wash  your  face  this  morning?" 
said  Wilkes.  "I  did,  sir."  "Where  was 
your  face  before  you  washed  it?"  The 
logic  of  wit  as  employed  by  Dr.  Johnson,  is 
referred  to  by  George  Eliot.  On  one  occa- 
sion it  was  debated  whether  a  clergyman 
who  had  five  years  before  been  guilty  of 
some  grave  sin  should  be  reinstated.  John- 
son inquired  whether  the  man  had  re- 
pented. It  was  admitted  that  he  had. 
w  Then,"  said  Johnson,  "  if  he  has  repented, 
is  he  not  good  enough  to  go  to  heaven?" 
"Certainly."  "Why,  sir,  then  there  is  no 
objection.  A  man  who  is  good  enough  to 
go  to  heaven  is  good  enough  to  be  a  clergy- 
man." Johnson  denounced  Lord  Bolinof- 
broke  in  the  following  immortal  analogy: 
"Sir,  he  was  a  scoundrel  and  a  coward;  a 
scoundrel  for  charging  a  blunderbuss 
against  religion  and  morality,  a  coward 
because  he  had  not  resolution  enough  to 
fire  it  off  himself,  but  left  half-a-crown  to  a 
beggarly  Scotchman  to  draw  the  trigger 
after  his  death." 


158  xan  an&  Ibumor  of  tbe  ffitble. 

A  certain  clergyman  who  had  been  ad- 
dieted  to  bawling  and  roaring*  in  the  pulpit 
said,  ffI  once  thought  it  was  the  thunder 
that  killed,  and  know  now  that  it  is  the 
lightning  that  does  the  execution.  I  mean 
to  thunder  less  and  lighten  more."  Sir 
Thomas  Overbury  punctures  certain  pre- 
tensions thus:  "The  man  who  has  not 
anything  to  boast  of  but  his  illustrious 
ancestors,  is  like  a  potato — the  only  good 
belonging  to  him  is  underground."  Thomp- 
son, of  the  Westminster  Review,  defended 
the  Radicals  against  the  attacks  of  the 
Whigs  in  this  manner:  "  Noah  was  a  Rad- 
ical when,  hearing  the  world  was  to  be 
drowned,  he  went  about  such  a  common- 
sense  proceeding  as  making  for  himself  a 
ship  to  swim  in.  An  antediluvian  Whig 
would  have  laid  together  half-a-dozen 
sticks  for  an  ark  and  called  it  a  *  virtual 
representation.' " 

The  principle  that  underlies  these  instan- 
ces is  obvious.  The  form  may  vary  but  in 
every  case  there  is  an  analogy  that  serves 
all  the  purposes  of  formal  logic,  —  wan  an- 
alogy which  immediately  exposes  the  absurd- 


XCUt  an*  Uoflic.  159 

ity    of    an    action    or    proposition."       The 
writers     of    the      Bible     understood     and 

employed  the  same  principle. 

I. 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  its  use  is 
found  in  Nathan's  parable.  He  goes  to 
David  and  tells  him:  *  There  were  two 
men  in  our  city;  the  one  rich,  the  other 
poor.  The  rich  man  had  exceeding  many 
flocks  and  herds;  but  the  poor  man  had 
nothing  save  one  little  ewe  lamb,  which  he 
had  brought  and  nourished  up;  audit  grew 
up  together  with  him  and  with  his  children; 
and  it  did  eat  of  his  own  meat  and  drank  of 
his  own  cup,  and  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  was 
unto  him  as  a  daughter.  And  there  came 
a  traveller  unto  the  rich  man,  and  he  spared 
to  take  of  his  own  flock  and  of  his  own 
herd  to  dress  it  for  the  wayfaring  man  that 
was  come  unto  him;  but  took  the  poor 
man's  lamb  and  dressed  it  for  the  man  that 
was  come  unto  him/'  Such  an  action  is 
so  atrocious  that  it  kindles  David's  wrath. 
He  little  suspects  the  purpose  of  the  wily 
prophet .    "As  the  Lord  liveth,"  he  cries,  rfthe 


160  «coit  ano  fmmoc  of  tbe  JBfble. 

man  that  hath  clone  this  thing  shall  surely  die ! 
And  he  shall  restore  the  lamb  four- fold  he- 
cause  he  did  this  thing,  and  because  he  had 
no  pity."  Beware,  David,  beware!  This 
Nestor-prophet,  this  Nathan  of  the  subtle 
wit  and  keen-edged  tongue  hath  digged  a 
pit  for  thee  and  thou  hast  fallen  into  it. 
Swiftly  the  prophet  smites  the  bewildered 
king  with  the  conclusion,  w  Thou  art  the 
man!"  Could  a  volume  of  reasoning  have 
so  impressed  David  with  the  enormity  of 
his  crime  as  this  simple  "  analogy "  of 
Nathan? 

A  similar  instance  is  found  in  the  first 
book  of  Kings.  Ahab  the  king  of  Israel 
had  allowed  the  Syrian  general,  Ben-hadad, 
to  escape.  One  of  the  prophets,  determined 
to  rebuke  him,  disguised  himself  and  sat  by 
the  wayside,  waiting  until  the  king  should 
pass  by.  "  And  as  the  king  passed  by,  he 
cried  unto  the  king  and  said:  Thy  servant 
went  out  into  the  midst  of  the  battle,  and 
behold  a  man  turned  aside  and  brought  a 
man  unto  me  and  said,  Keep  this  man;  if 
by  any  means  he  be  missing,  then  shall  thy 
life  be  for  his  life  or  else  thou  shalt  pay  a 


TOt  anfc  Xoflfc.  161 

talent  of  silver.  And  as  thy  servant  was 
busy  here  and  there  he  was  gone."  Ahab 
does  not  suspect  the  snare  of  the  prophet. 
What  would  my  lord,  the  king,  decide? 
Shall  thy  servant  pay  the  forfeit?  "  And 
the  king  of  Israel  said  unto  him,  So  shall  thy 
judgment  be ;  thyself  hath  decided  it."  And 
he  made  haste,  removed  his  disguise,  and 
said  to  the  king:  "Thus  saith  the  Lord: 
Because  thou  hast  let  go  out  of  thine  hand  a 
man  whom  I  had  appointed  to  utter  destruc- 
tion, therefore  thy  life  shall  go  for  hislife,  and 
th // people  for  his  people  "  Ahab  has  judged 
himself.  Xo  wonder  he  was  vexed.  ffAnd 
the  king  of  Israel  went  to  the  house  heavy 
and  displeased."  Nothing  so  disconcerts 
one  as  the  recoil  of  his  own  logic. 

Let  ns  place  side  by  side  with  these  illus- 
trations one  or  two  pieces  of  the  same  kind 
of  reasoning  from  Shakespeare.  The  Court 
Fool  endeavors  to  show  Lear  his  own  pitiful 
lack  of  wisdom  in  giving  away  his  kingdom 
to  his  daughters:  — 

"  Fool. — N  uncle,  give  me  an  egg,  and  I'll  give  thee 
two  crowns. 

"  Lear. — What  two  crowns  shall  they  he? 


162  Mit  anfr  Ibumor  of  tbe  aSfble. 

"  Fool. — Why,  after  I  have  dove  the  egg  V  the  mid- 
dle and  eat  up  the  meat,  the  two  crowns  of  the  egg. 
When  thou  clovest  thy  crown  i'  the  middle  and  gavest 
away  both  parts,  thou  borest  thine  ass  on  thy  back  o'er 
the  dirt ;  thou  hadst  little  wit  in  thy  bald  crown  when 
thou  gavest  thy  golden  one  away." 

Upon  another  occasion  the  following  dia- 
logue occurs :  — 

"  Fool. — Canst  thou  tell  how  an  oyster  makes  his 
shell? 

"  Leak. — No. 

"Fool. — Nor  I  neither;  but  I  can  tell  why  a  snail 
has  a  house. 

"Lear.— Why? 

"  Fool. — Why  to  put  his  head  in  ;  not  to  give  it  away 
to  his  daughters  and  leave  his  horns  without  a  case." 

Lear  is  so  stung  with  the  sense  of  his  folly 
by  these  w  analogies  "  of  his  jester  that  he 
exclaims  in  rage  and  bitterness,  w  I  shall  for- 
get my  nature ! "  It  is  the  argument  of 
Nathan,  M  Thou  art  the  man." 

Upon  the  same  principle,  but  in  a  differ- 
ent way,  the  Psalmist  reasons  with  those 
who  w  slay  the  widow  and  the  stranger  and 
murder  the  fatherless,"  and  who  say,  "  The 
Lord  shall  not  see,  neither  shall  the  God  of 
Jacob  regard  it."  Thus  he  argues:    K  Under- 


*GCUt  ai^  Xogfc.  163 

stand,  ye  brutish  among  the  people;  and  ye 
fools,  when  will  ye  be  wise?  He  that  plant- 
ed the  ear, shall  he  nothearf  he  thatformed 
the  eye,  shall  he  not  see/  " 

Under  this  head  must  we  also  place  the 
judgment  of  Solomon,  when  the  two  women 
came  before  him,  each  claiming  the  living 
child.  "  Then  said  the  king,  The  one  saith, 
This  is  my  son  that  liveth  and  thy  son  is  dead; 
and  the  other  saith,  Nay ;  but  thy  son  is  the 
dead  and  mine  is  the  living  one.  And  the 
king  said,  Bring  me  a  sword.  And  they 
brought  a  sword  before  the  king.  And  the 
king  said,  Divide  the  living  child  in  two  and 
give  half  to  one  and  half  to  the  other.  Then 
spoke  the  woman  wdiose  the  living  child  was 
unto  the  king,  for  her  heart  yearned  upon 
her  son,  and  she  said,  O  my  Lord,  give  her 
the  living  child  and  in  no  Avise  slay  it.  But 
the  other  said,  Let  it  be  neither  thine  nor 
mine,  but  divide  it.  Then  the  king  answered 
and  said,  C4ive  her  (the  first)  the  living  child, 
and  in  no  wise  slay  it;  she  is  the  mother 
thereof."  Solomon  had  to  use  a  sharp  argu- 
ment, but  he  settled  the  controversy. 


164  -rot  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

II. 

The  ff  suggestion  of  an  analogy  that  im- 
mediately exposes  the  absurdity  of  an  action 
or  proposition,"  was  the  favorite  method  of 
argument  with  Jesus. 

He  spun  no  metaphysical  cobwebs,  he 
used  no  long  chains  of  linked  propositions; 
it  is  no  irreverence  to  say  that  his  quick  wit 
was  his  main  reliance.  In  a  sentence  or  two, 
with  a  simple,  homely  figure,  he  reduced  to 
an  absurdity  the  conduct  he  censured  and 
the  proposition  he  opposed. 

On  one  occasion  he  was  asked,  rIs  it  law- 
ful to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day?"  fr  What 
man  shall  there  be  among  you,"  he  answered, 
w  that  shall  have  one  sheep,  and  if  it  fall  into 
a  pit  on  the  Sabbath  day,  will  he  not  lay  hold 
onit  and  bring  it  out?  How  much  more,  then, 
is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep?  Wherefore  it 
is  lawful  to  do  well  on  the  Sabbath  day." 

At  another  time  the  same  subject  came 
up.  Because  Jesus  had  healed  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  was  filled 
with  indignation  and  made  a  very  grotesque 
spectacle  of  himself.     He  stormed,  scolded, 


1UM  anfc  Xoflfc.  165 

and  roared  to  the  people,  "There  are 
six  days  in  which  men  ought  to  work;  in 
them  therefore  come  and  be  healed,  and  not 
on  the  Sabbath  day."  Jesus  answered: 
K  Thou  hypocrite,  doth  not  each  one  of  you 
on  the  Sabbath  loose  his  ox  or  his  ass  from 
the  stall  and  lead  him  away  to  watering? 
And  ought  not  this  woman,  being  a  daugh- 
ter of  Abraham,  whom  Satan  hath  bound, 
lo,  these  eighteen  years,  be  loosed  from  this 
bond  on  the  Sabbath  day?  "  The  indignant 
ruler  had  to  smother  his  wrath.  "And  when 
he  (Jesus)  had  said  these  things,  all  his  ad- 
versaries were  ashamed."  The  people 
enjoyed  their  confusion,  and  evidently 
applauded  the  sharp-witted  young  prophet 
who  had  silenced  the  fault-finding  tongues 
of  the  rulers.  "  All  the  people  rejoiced  for 
the  glorious  things  that  were  done  by  him!" 
The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  were  once 
murmuring  and  complaining  that  he  min- 
gled with  publicans  and  sinners,  and  even 
condescended  to  eat  with  them.  "And 
Jesus  answering  said  unto  them,  They 
that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but 
they  that  are  sick.  I  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance!" 


160  xait  ant)  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBfMe. 

When  the  Pharisees  and  Saddncees  desired 
that  he  would  show  them  a  sign  from  heaven, 
he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  K  When  it 
is  evening,  ye  say  that  it  will  be  fair  weather 
for  the  sky  is  red.  And  in  the  morning,  It 
will  be  foul  weather  to-day;  for  the  sky  is 
red  and  lowering.  O,  ye  hypocrites,  ye  can 
discern  t  lie  face  of  the  sky;  hut  can  ye  not 
discern  the  signs  of  the  times?"  Pie  uses 
essentially  the  same  argument  for  a  similar 
request:  "  When  ye  see  a  cloud  rise  out  of 
the  West,  straightway  ye  say,  There  cometh 
a  shower,  and  so  it  is.  And  when  ye  see 
the  South  wind  blow,  ye  say,  There  will  be 
heat,  and  it  cometh  to  pass.  Ye  hypocrites, 
ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky  and  of 
the  earth;  hut  how  is  it  that  ye  do  not  dis- 
cern this  time?"  Says  Geike,  "With  biting 
irony,  he  turned  on  them  in  a  few  brief, 
incisive  sentences.  *  *  *  An  evil  and 
adulterous  generation  seeks  after  a  sign  of 
the  approach  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  while 
it  is  blind  to  the  signs  around  that  the  Mes- 
siah must  come,  if  the  nation  is  not  to 
perish." 

In  a  similar  manner  he  shows  how  ridicu- 


•Cdit  anfc  Xoafc.  167 

lous  are  the  doubts  of  those  who  fear  that 
God  will  not  answer  prayer.  "If  a  sou  ask 
bread  of  any  of  you  that  is  a  father,  will  ye 
give  1 1  i  111  a  stone?"  How  this  must  have 
arrested  the  attention  of  his  auditors;  how 
they  began  to  listen,  curious  to  know  what 
was  coming  next.  "Or  if  he  ask  a  fish, 
will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent?" 
Now  they  exchange  glances  as  much  as  to 
say,  "Xo,  no;  surely  we  would  not  do  that!" 
But  only  for  a  moment.  The  expectant 
laces  are  again  turned  upon  the  Great 
Teacher.  "  Or  if  he  shall  ask  an  Qgg,  will 
he  offer  him  a  scorpion?"  "  Xo,  no!"  and 
now  they  are  eager  for  the  conclusion: 
"If  ye  then  being  evil,  know  how  to  <jir<- 
good  gift*  mi  to  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  Heavenly  Father  give  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him?"  It  is 
the  climax  of  absurdity  for  you  to  think  that 
you  are  better  than  God,  and  will  do  more 
lor  your  children  than  the  Great  Father  will 
do  for  his  children! 

The  disciples  of  Jesus  came  to  tell  him 
that  the  Pharisees  are  offended  at  some  of 
his  sayings.     His  only  reply  is,  ''Let  them 


168  -rot  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBfble. 

alone;  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind. 
And  if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall 
fall  into  the  ditch." 

When  he  charges  the  Pharisees  with 
tithing  mint,  anise,  and  cummin,  while 
neglecting  judgment,  mercy  and  faith,  he 
stamps  their  conduct  with  an  ff  analogy " 
that  makes  them  ludicrous  forever,  "Ye 
blind  guides  ivhich  strain  out  a  gnat  and 
sivallow  a,  camel." 

At  dinner,  he  was  rebuked  by  his  host 
for  permitting  a  penitent  woman  to  wash 
his  feet  with  her  tears  and  wipe  them  with 
the  hairs  of  her  head.  "  Simon,''  calmly 
returned  the  guest,  "I  have  somewhat  to 
say  to  thee."  w  Master,  Say  on."  Jesus 
then  proceeds  to  impale  him  upon  the  fol- 
lowing question :  'f  There  was  a  certain 
creditor  which  had  two  debtors;  the  one 
owed  him  five  hundred  pence,  the  other 
fifty.  And  when  they  had  nothing  to  pay, 
he  frankly  forgave  them  both.  Tell  me, 
therefore,  which  of  them  will  love  him 
most?"  Simon  understands  whither  the 
question  tends,  and  slowly  and  reluctantly 
comes  his  answer :     "I  —  suppose  —  that  — 


•Qdit  and  logic.  169 

he  —  to  — whom  —  he  —  forgave  most." 
"Thou  hast  lightly  judged."  Yes,  Simon, 
but  thou  hast  condemned  thyself  and  justified 
the  woman. 

The  story  of  the  vineyard  and  its  ap- 
plieation  are  similar  to  Nathan's  parable. 
K  There  was  a  certain  householder  which 
planted  a  vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round 
about  and  digged  a  wine-press  in  it,  and 
built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to  husbandmen, 
and  went  into  a  far  country.  And  when 
the  time  of  the  fruit  drew  near,  he  sent  his 
servants  to  the  husbandmen,  that  they 
might  receive  the  fruits  of  it.  And  the 
husbandmen  took  his  servants,  and  beat 
one,  and  killed  another,  and  stoned  another. 
Again  he  sent  other  servants,  more  than  the 
first;  and  they^  did  unto  them  likewise.  But 
last  of  all,  he  sent  unto  them  his  Son;  say- 
ing, They  will  reverence  my  Son.  But  when 
the  husbandmen  saw  the  Son,  they  said 
among  themselves,  This  is  the  heir;  come, 
let  us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  the  inher- 
itance. And  they  caught  him  and  cast  him 
out  of  the  vineyard,  and  slew  him." 

This   is  the   story.     Jesus   turns   to   the 


170  -emit  anfr  Ibumor  of  tbe  .Bible. 

Pharisees:  :cWhen  the  Lord,  therefore, 
of  the  vineyard  cometh,  what  will  he  do 
unto  these  husbandmen?"  Priests  and 
Pharisees  are  moved  with  indignation.  This 
is  horrible;  it  almost  exceeds  belief.  Those 
husbandmen  were  monsters  of  ingratitude 
and  wickedness!  The  Pharisees  answer: 
"lie  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked 
men,  and  will  let  out  his  vineyard  unto  other 
husbandmen,  which  shall  render  him  the 
fruits  in  their  seasons." 

Fatal  answer  for  you,  O  Scribes  and  Phar- 
isees !  ?  Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  the  King- 
dom of  God  slxill  he  taken  from  you,  and 
given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits 
thereof."  There  is  a  touch  of  humor  in 
Matthew's  description  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  real  object  of  this  story  dawned 
upon  the  minds  of  the  hearers.  "  And  when 
the  Pharisees  had  heard  his  parable,  they 
perceived  that  he  spake  of  them?  Are  we 
not  irresistibly  reminded  of  Falstaff,  when 
the  fairies  in  the  forest  turned  out  to  be  flesh 
and  blood,  "I  do  begin  to  perceive  that  I 
am  made  an  ass?"  Do  we  not  feel  about 
many  of  these  condensed  arguments  of  Jesus, 


tern  and  xcgIc.  171 

as  Milton  did  about  the  "sophisl  sweating 
and  turmoiling  under  the  inevitable  and  mer- 
ciless dilemmas  of  Socrates,"  that  "he  who 
reads,  were  it  Saturn  himself,  would  be 
robbed  of  more  than  a  smile?" 

Let  us  add  by  way  of  comparison,  a  pas- 
sage from  the  Athenian  Master.  Here  is  a 
fragment  of  dialogue  upon  the  enslaving 
power  of  money. 

"  Come,  now,  and  let  us  reason  with  the 
unjust  who  is  not  intentionally  in  error. 
*  Sweet  sir,'  we  will  say  to  him,  ?what  think 
you  of  things  esteemed  noble  and  ignoble? 
Is  not  the  noble  that  which  subjects  the 
beast  to  the  man,  or  rather  to  the  god  in 
man?  and  the  ignoble  that  which  subjects 
the  man  to  the  beast?'  He  can  hardly  avoid 
saying  Yes,  —  can  he  now?  " 

w  Xot  if  he  has  any  regard  for  my  opinion." 

"  But  if  he  admit  this,  we  may  ask  him 
another  question, —  How  would  a  man  profit 
if  he  received  gold  and  silver  on  condition 
that  he  was  to  enslave  the  noblest  part  of 
him  to  the  worst?  AVho  can  imagine  that  a 
man  who  sold  his  son  or  daughter  into  slav- 
ery for  money,  especially  if  he  sold  them  into 


172  TOt  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

the  hands  of  fierce  and  evil  men,  would  be 
the  gainer,  however  large  might  be  the  sum 
which  he  received?  And  will  any  one  say 
that  he  is  not  a  miserable  caitiff  who  sells  his 
own  divine  being  to  that  which  is  most  athe- 
istical and  detestable,  and  has  no  pity?  " 

This  selection  will  enable  ns  to  see  that 
the  method  commonly  used  by  Socrates  was 
essentially  the  method  that  Jesus  so  fre- 
quently employed. 

III. 

When  Ave  pass  on  to  other  portions  of  the 
Xew  Testament,  we  find  examples  of  the 
same  kind  of  reasoning  in  James  and  Paul. 

Most  admirably  does  James  show  the  futil- 
ity of  faith  without  works.  "  What  shall  it 
profit,  my  brethren,  though  a  man  say  he 
hath  faith  and  hath  not  works?  Can  faith 
save  him?  If  a  brother  and  sister  be  naked 
and  destitute  of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you 
say  unto  them,  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye 
warmed  and  filled;  notwithstanding  ye  give 
them  not  those  things  which  are  needful  to 
the  body,  what  doth  it  profit?  Even  so  faith, 
if  it  hath  not  works,  is  dead,  being  alone." 


TKiUt  an*3  OLoaic.  173 

The  class  of  people  referred  to  by  James 
are  aptly  described  by  Fielding  in  the 
character  of  Peter  Pounce.  "Sir,"  said 
Adams,  "  my  definition  of  charity  is  a  gen- 
erous disposition  to  relieve  the  distressed." 
"There  is  something*  in  that  definition," 
answered  Peter,  "which  I  like  well  enough; 
it  is,  as  }Tou  say,  a  disposition  to  do  it, 
and  does  not  so  much  consist  in  the  act 
as  in  the  disposition  to  do  it.  But,  alas! 
Mr.  Adams,  who  are  meant  by  the  distressed? 
Belieye  me,  the  distresses  of  mankind  are 
mostly  imaginary,  and  it  would  be  rather 
folly  than  goodness  to  relieve  them."  w  Sure, 
sir,"  replied  Adams,  "hunger  and  thirst, 
cold  and  nakedness,  and  other  distresses 
which  attend  the  poor,  can  never  be  said  to 
be  imaginary  evils."  "How  can  any  man 
complain  of  hunger,"  said  Peter,  "  in  a  coun- 
try where  such  excellent  salads  are  to  be 
gathered  in  almost  every  field?  or  of  thirst, 
where  every  river  and  stream  produce  such 
delicious  potations?  And  as  for  cold  and 
nakedness,  they  are  evils  introduced  by  lux- 
ury and  custom.  A  man  naturally  wants 
clothes  no  more  than  a  horse  or  any  other 


17*  XQit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

animal;  and  there  are  whole  nations  who  go 
without  them."  Peter  Pounce  would  have 
said  to  the  "brother  or  sister  naked  and  des- 
titute of  daily  food,"  *  Depart  in  peace;  be 
ye  warmed  and  filled" 

The  declaration  of  James  that  "faith 
without  works  is  dead,"  is  illustrated  in  the 
sayings  of  others  also: 

"  Sweet  words,  empty  hands." — Telugu. 

44  Kindness,  but  no  milk." — Urdu. 

"Though  they  are  brothers,  their  pockets  are  not 
sisters." — Turk. 

"  It  is  not  by  saying  Honey,  Honey,  that  sweetness 
comes  into  the  mouth." — lb. 

"His  words  leap  over  forts,  his  feet  do  not  cross  the 
threshold." —  Telugu. 

44  If  you  do  not  ask  me  for  food  and  raiment,  I  will 
care  for  you  as  my  own  child." — lb. 

Equally  admirable  is  that  comparison  of 
Paul  in  which  he  likens  the  Church  to  the 
human  body  and  shows  the  folly  of  jealousy 
and  schism:  "If  the  foot  shall  say,  Because 
I  am  not  the  hand,  I  am  not  of  the  body; 
is  it  therefore  not  of  the  body?  If  the  whole 
body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing? 
If  the  whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the 
smelling?" 


TIClit  anD  Xoflic.  175 

Very  pleasantly,  but  very  effectually, 
does  he  remind  those  who  professed  to 
"speak  with  tongues"  a  sort  of  supernatu- 
ral language,  in  the  early  Christian  assem- 
blies, that  it  was  "better  to  speak  five 
words  with  the  understanding  than  ten 
thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue." 
An  illustration  serves  his  purpose.  "Even 
things  without  life,  giving  sound,  whether 
pipe  or  harp,  except  they  give  a  distinction 
in  sound,  how  shall  it  be  known  what  is 
piped  or  harped?  For  if  the  trumpet  give 
an  uncertain  sound,  who  shall  prepare  him- 
self for  battle?  So  likewise  ye,  except  ye 
utter  by  the  tongue  words  easy  to  be  un- 
derstood, how  shall  it  be  known  what  is 
spoken?  for  ye  shall  speak  into  the  air." 

Paul  maintains  the  right  of  those  who 
establish  and  teach  churches,  to  be  sup- 
ported by  those  churches.  It  was  a  right 
upon  which  he  did  not  always  insist  in  his 
own  case;  but  he  fought  for  it  as  a  great 
principle.  K  Mine  answer  to  them  that  do 
examine  me  is  this:  Have  we  not  the 
power  (the  right)  to  eat  and  drink?"  The 
objector   would    admit    this.      Very    well! 


176  *oait  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

"Who  goeth  a  warfare  any  time  at  his  own 
charges?  Who  planteth  a  vineyard  and 
eateth  not  of  the  fruit  thereof?  or  who 
feedeth  a  flock,  and  eateth  not  of  the  milk 
of  the  flock?  *  *  *  If  we  have  sown 
unto  you  in  spiritual  things,  is  it  a  great 
thing  if  we  shall  reap  of  your  carnal  things? 
*  *  *  Do  ye  not  know  that  they  which 
minister  about  holy  things  live  of  the  things 
of  the  temple?  They  which  wait  at  the 
altar  are  partakers  with  the  altar?  Even 
so  hath  the  Lord  ordained  that  they  which 
preach  the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel." 
There  is  no  gainsaying  this  argument. 
The   K  analogy "   is  unanswerable. 

Already  once  or  twice  in  this  chapter, 
reference  has  been  made  to  Socrates  and 
his  method.  Much  of  the  following  passage 
would  apply  equally  well  to  Jesus  or  James 
or  Paul :  K  He  generally  begins  with  some 
question,  apparently  so  simple,  so  stupidly 
simple,  and  at  such  a  distance  from  the  field 
of  discussion,  that  his  opponent  often  hesi- 
tates whether  most  to  admire  the  docility  or 
wonder  at  the  stupidity  of  the  querist,  and 
with  a  complacent   smile,  half   of   pity,  half 


TMM  anfc  ILoflfc.  177 

of  contempt,  promptly  replies.  Other  ques- 
tions succeed  faster  and  faster,  more  and 
more  difficult,  and  gradually  approaching, 
in  one  long  spiral  of  interrogations,  the 
central  position  in  which  the  unhappy 
sophist's  argument  stands.  He  now  finds 
it  impossible  to  escape,  and  confounded, 
perplexed  and  irritated,  discovers  that  he  is 
compelled  to  admit  some  palpable  contra- 
diction to  his  original  assertions,  and  this 
too  by  means  of  those  simple  and  innocent 
premises  which  he  had  so  unsuspectingly 
granted.  He  feels  himself  within  the  coils 
of  a  great  logical  boa-constrictor  who  binds 
his  folds  together  tighter  and  tighter  till 
the  poor  sophist  is  absolutely  strangled." 


VIII.     THE  USE  OF  RIDICULE   IN  THE  OLD 
TESTAMENT. 

"  Wisdom  crieth  without;  she  uttereth  her  voice  in 
the  streets  ;  she  crieth  in  the  chief  place  of  concourse,  in 
the  openings  of  the  gates  ;  in  the  city  she  uttereth  her 
words,  saying,  How  long  ye  simple  ones  will  ye  love 
simplicity?  And  the  scorners  delight  in  their  scorning, 
and  fools  hate  knowledge?  Turn  you  at  my  reproof!  " — 
Solomon. 


(179) 


THE   USE   OF  RIDICULE  IN  THE  OLD 
TESTAMENT. 

"  The  oldest  jibe  In  literature  is  the  ridicule  of  false 
religion . " —  Emerson. 

"He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall  laugh:  the  Lord 
shall  hold  them  in  derision." — Psalms. 

Ix  the  Bible,  the  elements  of  wit  and 
humor  are  effectively  employed  in  dealing 
with  the  sins  of  men.  Evil  doing,  in  its 
various  motives  and  manifestations,  is  de- 
nounced, rendered  repulsive,  made  ghastly 
and  terrible,  and  when  everything  else  has 
been  done,  it  is  exhibited  as  grotesque  and 
ludicrous.  Sin  is  the  great  absurdity  of  the 
universe.  Were  it  not  so  tragic,  it  would 
shake  the  very  heavens  with  laughter. 

One  of  the  old  English  poets  has  these 
lines:  — 

"  He  who  does  not  tremble  at  the  sword, 
Who  quails  not  with  his  head  upon  the  block, 
Turn  but  a  jest  against  him,  loses  heart ; 
The  shafts  of  wit  slip  thro'  the  stoutest  mail. 
There  is  no  man  alive  that  can  live  down 
The  inextinguishable  laughter  of  mankind. " 

With  this  fact  the  writers  of  the  Bible  were 

(181) 


182  xuit  an&  Dumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

quite  as  well  acquainted  as  are  the  writers 
of  modern  times.  They  took  advantage  of 
it  for  the  same  purpose. 

"  Of  this  we  may  be  sure,"  says  Hazlitt, 
ff  that  ridicule  fastens  on  the  vulnerable  points 
of  a  cause,  and  finds  out  the  weak  sides  of 
an  argument;  if  those  who  resort  to  it  some- 
times rely  too  much  on  its  success,  those 
who  are  chiefly  annoyed  by  it  almost  always 
are  so  with  reason,  and  can  not  be  too  much 
upon  their  guard  against  deserving  it." 

Into  hearts  impervious  to  all  else,  the 
writers  of  the  Bible  drove  the  javelins  of 
ridicule. 

The    Sluggard. 

If  anything  could  make  a  lazy  man  feel 
uncomfortable,  it  would  be  such  thorns  as 
those  Solomon  has  planted  in  his  pillow: — 

"  I  went  by  the  field  of  the  slothful, 
And  by  the  vineyard  of  the  man  void  of  understanding  ; 
And  lo  !  it  was  all  grown  over  with  thorns, 
The  face  thereof  was  covered  with  nettles, 
And  the  stone  wall  thereof  was  broken  down. 
Then  I  beheld  and  considered  well, 
I  saw  and  received  instruction  : 
4  A  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber, 


£bc  Use  of  TRiotculc  in  tbe  Old  {Testament.    183 

A  little  folding  of  the  hands  to   sloop.' 
So  shall  thy  poverty  come  as  a  robber, 
And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man. 

*  *  *  *  '* 

How  long  wilt  thou  sleep,  O  sluggard, 
When  wilt  thou  rouse  thee  out  of  thy  sleep?  " 

The    Unfaithful    Friend. 

If  anything  could  make  an  unfaithful  and 
deceitful  friend,  one  who  professes  much  in 
times  of  prosperity  and  performs  nothing  in 
times  of  need,  ashamed  of  himself,  it  would 
be  such  a  comparison  as  we  find  in  the  book 
of  Job:  — 

v*  My  brethren  are  deceitful,  like  the  brook 
As  the  channel  of  brooks  that  pass  away, 
They  become  turbid  from  ice, 
The  snow  hides  itself  in  them. 
At  the  time  they  are  poured  off,  they  fail ; 
When  it  is  hot  they  are  consumed  from  their  place. 
The  caravans  along  their  way  turn  aside  ; 
They  go  up  into  the  wastes  and  perish. 
The  caravans  of  Tema  looked, 
The  companies  of  Sheba  hoped  for  them  ; 
They  were  ashamed  that  they  had  trusted, 
They  came  thither  and  were  confounded." 

The  friends  of  Job  were  like  streams  in  the 
early  spring,  when    melting   ice    and    snow 


184  -mat  anD  "Ibumor  of  tbe  ffitble. 

filled  their  channels,  and  the  waters  were 
not  needed;  but  in  the  heat  of  summer, 
when  fainting  caravans  looked  for  refresh- 
ment, dry  and  dusty. 

The  Drunkard. 

If  anything  could  move  a  drunkard  to  for- 
swear his  cups  and  lead  a  sober  life,  it  would 
be  such  a  sarcastic  description  of  him  as 
that  which  follows :  — 

"  Who  hath  woe?  Who  hath  sorrow?  Who  hath  con- 
tention? 

Who  hath  complaining?  Who  hath  wounds  without 
cause  ? 

Who  hath  redness  of  eyes  ? 

They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine, 

They  that  go  to  try  mixed  wine. 

Thine  eyes  shall  behold  strange  things, 

And  thy  heart  shall  utter  fro  ward  things, 

Yea  thou  shalt  be  as  he  that  lieth  down  in  the  midst  of 

the  sea, 
Or  as  he  that  lieth  upon  the  top  of  a  mast." 

The  poem  closes  with  a  terrible  thrust.  After 
the  folly  of  the  drunkard  has  been  described, 
his  physical  and  mental  condition  pointed  out 
—  the  red  eyes,  the  strange  things  seen  in  de- 


Cbc  XXsc  ot  Ridicule  in  tbc  ©ID  Testament.    185 

lirium,  the  incoherent  babbling,  the  unsteady 
unit,  the  surrounding  perils,  —  the  devotee 
of  strong  drink  is  made  to  exclaim,  "  When 
shall  I  awake?  I  will  seek  it  yet  again!" 
Knowing  its  effects,  suffering  in  mind  and 
body  from  his  potations,  such  is  the  incorri- 
gible stupidity  of  the  wine-bibber  that  he 
no  sooner  wakens  from  his  drunken  slumber 
than  he  goes  forth  to  seek  again  the  source 
of  his  wretchedness ! 

The   Idolater. 

Nowhere  is  the  use  of  ridicule  by  the 
writers  of  the  Old  Testament  displayed  to 
better  advantage  than  in  their  treatment  of 
idolatry.  Against  this  sin  they  brought 
to  bear  the  most  potent  weapons  of  their 
wit.  Xone  of  the  resources  of  expression 
were  left  untried.  Witness  the  withering 
irony  with  which  Elijah  mocked  the  frantic 
priests  of  Baal:  "And  it  came  to  pass  that 
at  noon  Elijah  mocked  them  and  said,  Cry 
aloud,  for  he  is  a  god;  either  he  is  talking, 
or  he  is  pursuing,  or  he  is  in  a  journey,  or 
peradventure  he  sleepeth  and  must  be 
awaked.''      Xo    finer   bit    of  irony    can    be 


186  TOt  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

found  in  any  literature.  Indeed,  we  may 
regard  it  as  the  most  perfect  specimen  ex- 
tant of  this  scries  of  wit. 

Jeremiah  exclaim-.  "As  the  thief  is 
ashamed  when  he  is  found,  so  is  the  house 
of  Israel  ashamed;  they,  their  kings,  their 
princes  and  their  priests,  and  their  prophets, 
saying  to  a  stock,  Thou  art  my  father,  and 
to  a  stone,    Thou    hast    brought   me  forth" 

The  Psalmist  thus  speaks  of  the  gods  of 
the  heathen: 

44  They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not ; 
Eyes  have  they,  but  they  see  not ; 
Noses  have  they,  but  they  smell  not ; 
They  have  hands,  but  they  handle  not ; 
Feet  have  they,  but  they  walk  not  ; 
Neither  speak  they  thro'  their  throat." 

Having  thus  described  the  senselessness 
and  impotence  of  the  gods  of  the  heathen, 
he  adds: 

"They  that  make  them  are  like  unto  them, 
So  is  everyone  that  trusteth  in  them." 

In  a  similar  vein  Jeremiah  ridicules  the 
idols :  w  For  the  customs  of  the  people  are 
vain;  for  one  cutteth  a  tree  out  of  the 
forest,  the  work  of  the  hands  of  the  work^ 


XTbc  Use  of  IRiMculc  (n  tbe  Olfr  Ccatamcnt.    187 

man,  with  the  axe.  They  deck  it  with  silver 
and  with  gold;  they  fasten  it  with  nails  and 
with  hammers  that  it  move  not.  They  are 
upright  as  the  palm  tree,  but  speak  not; 
they  must  needs  be  borne,  because  they 
can  not  go.  Be  not  afraid  of  them;  for 
they  can  not  do  evil,  neither  also  is  it  in 
them  to  do  good.  *  *  *  The  stock  is  a 
doctrine  of  vanities." 

Isaiah  satirizes  the  idolaters  in  this 
fashion:  "They  shall  be  turned  back,  they 
shall  be  greatly  ashamed  that  trust  in 
graven  images,  they  that  say  to  the  molten 
images,  Ye  are  our  gods.  Hear  ye  deaf, 
and  look  ye  blind  that  ye  may  see.  "Who 
is  blind  but  my  servant?  or  deaf  as  my 
messenger  that  I  sent?  Who  is  blind  as  he 
that  is  perfect  (in  his  own  estimation),  and 
blind  as  is  the  Lord's  servant?  Seeing 
many  things,  but  thou  observest  not;  open- 
ing the  ears,  but  he  heareth  not.  *  *  * 
Who  among  you  will  give  ear  to  this  and 
hearken  and  hear  for  time  to  come?" 

Ezekiel  declares  that,  on  account  of  their 
idolatries,  the  people  have  become  as  worth- 
less  as  a  withered   vine.     Nothing   useful 


188  TOt  anO  Dumor  of  tbe  JBtble. 

can  be  made  out  of  it.  It  is  only  fit  for 
the  fire.  "What  is  the  vine  tree  more  than 
any  tree,  or  than  a  branch  which  is  among 
the  trees  of  the  forest?  Shall  wood  be 
taken  thereof  to  do  any  work?  or  a\ ill  men 
take  a  pin  of  it  to  hang  any  vessel  thereon? 
Behold  it  is  cast  into  the  fire  for  fuel;  the 
fire  devoureth  both  the  ends  of  it,  and  the 
midst  of  it  is  burned.  Is  it  meet  for  any 
work?  Behold,  when  it  was  whole,  it  was 
meet  for  no  work;  how  much  less  shall  it  be 
meet  yet  for  any  work,  when  the  fire  hath 
devoured  it,  and  it  is  burned?  Therefore, 
thus  saith  the  Lord  God:  As  the  vine  tree 
among  the  trees  of  the  forest,  which  I  have 
given  to  the  fire  for  fuel,  so  will  I  give  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem." 

There  is  an  elaborate  piece  of  sarcasm  in 
the  forty-fourth  chapter  of  Isaiah:  "He 
heweth  him  down  cedars,  and  taketh  the  cy- 
press and  the  oak  which  he  strengtheneth  for 
himself  among  the  trees  of  the  forest;  he 
planteth  an  ash  and  the  rain  doth  nourish  it. 
Then  shall  it  be  for  a  man  to  burn;  for  he 
will  take  thereof  and  warm  himself;  yea,  he 
kindleth  it  and   baketh  bread."     The   tree 


Ubc  X\ec  of  IRtNculc  in  tbc  CIS  (Testament     189 

which  this  idolater  takes  lias  grown  up  as 
any  other  tree,  and  after  it  is  cut  down,  it  is 
devoted  to  the  same  ordinary  uses.  Yet 
out  of  that  very  tree,  "he  niaketh  a  god  and 
worshippeth  it;  he  maketh  a  graven  image, 
and  falleth  down  thereto." 

The  prophet  repeats  and  amplifies,  r?  He 
burnetii  part  thereof  in  the  tire;  with  part 
thereof  he  eateth  flesh,  he  roasteth  roast  and 
is  satisfied;  yea,  he  warmeth  himself  and 
saith,  Aha,  I  am  warm,  I  have  seen  the  fire; 
and  the  residue  thereof  he  maketh  a  god, 
even  his  graven  image;  he  falleth  down 
unto  it  and  worshipeth  it,  and  prayeth 
unto  it  and  saith,  Deliver  me,  for  thou  art 
my  God." 

Then  he  concludes:  wAnd  none  consid- 
ereth  in  his  heart,  neither  is  there  knowledge 
nor  understanding  to  say ,  I  have  burnedpart 
of  it  in  the  fire;  yea,  also  I  hare  baked 
bread  upon  the  coals  thereof;  I  have  roasted 
flesh  and  ecden  it;  and  shall  I  make  the  res- 
idue thereof  an  abomination?  Shall  I  fall 
down  to  the  stock  of  a  tree?"  The  idolater 
does  not  see,  does  not  "consider"  what  an 
ahject  simpleton  he  is  to  make  a  god  out  of 


190  Ulit  anfc  Dumot  of  tbe  .IGiblc. 

the  same  material  with  which  he  bakes  bread 
and  roasts  meat.  It  is  as  if  the  prophet 
should  say,  "What  sort  of  a  god  is  that,  O 
Israel,  with  which  you  do  your  broiling  and 
baking?" 

Robert  South  comments  on  this  passage : 
?  With  one  part  he  furnishes  his  chimney, 
with  the  other  his  chapel.  A  strange  thing 
that  the  fire  must  consume  this  part  and  burn 
incense  to  that!  As  if  there  were  more 
divinity  in  one  end  of  the  stick  than  in  the 
other;  or  as  if  it  could  be  painted  and  graven 
omnipotent,  or  the  nails  and  hammer  could 
give  it  an  apotheosis." 

The  fatalistic  excuse  which  the  people 
make  for  their  idolatries  and  other  sins,  is 
thus  disposed  of  by  Jeremiah :  "  Behold  ye 
trust  in  lying  words  that  can  not  profit.  Will 
ye  steal,  murder,  and  commit  adultery,  and 
swear  falsely,  and  burn  incense  unto  Baal, 
and  walk  after  other  gods  whom  ye  know 
not;  and  come  and  stand  before  me  in  this 
house  which  is  called  by  my  name,  and  say, 
We  are  delivered  to  do  all  these  abomina- 
tions? Is  this  house  which  is  called  by  my 
name  become  a  den  of  robbers  in  your  eyes?" 


Zbc  XXvc  of  iRiMculc  (n  tbc  oic>  Ceetament,    L91 

lu  fuQi  S     of    Z/li  8, 

Isaiah  charges  the  rulers  of  the  people 
with  forsaking  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and 
substituting  for  his  truth  false  maxims  and 
Iniquitous  precepts.  They  refuse  to  obey 
the  divine  commands,  and  lead  their  subjects 
also  into  rebellion.  They  have  adopted  other 
rules  of  life  than  those  delivered  by  the 
prophets  of  Jehovah, —  other  national  policy 
than  that  promulgated  from  above.  In  their 
overweening  pride  and  self-confidence,  they 
look  with  disdain  upon  the  requirements  of 
God.  Isaiah  represents  them  as  saying, 
KWe  have  made  a  covenant  with  death,  and 
with  hell  are  ^ve  at  agreement ;  when  the  over- 
flowing scourge  shall  pass  through,  it  shall 
not  come  nnto  ns;  for  we  have  made  lies 
our  refuge,  and  under  falsehood  have  we  hid 
ourselves."  But  the  prophet  warns  them 
that  their  fancied  security  shall  be  broken 
up.  K  Judgment  also  will  I  lay  to  the  line 
and  righteousness  to  the  plummet;  and  the 
hail  shall  sweep  away  the  refuge  of  lies, 
and  the  waters  shall  overflow  the  hiding- 
place.     And  your  covenant  with  death  shall 


192  TOt  anfc  Ibumor  of  the  JBtble. 

be  disannnled,  and  your  agreement  with 
hell  shall  not  stand.  When  the  overflowing 
scourge  shall  pass  through,  then  ye  shall  be 
trodden  down  by  it."  He  pauses  a  moment, 
after  this  strain  of  invective,  and  then  sar- 
castically describes  the  insufficiency  of  their 
refuges  by  another  figure,  ludicrous  enough, 
that  of  a  man  trying  to  stretch  himself  upon 
too  short  a  bed,  and  to  cover  himself  with 
too  narrow  a  blanket.  "For  the  bed  is 
shorter  than  that  a  man  can  stretch  himself 
on  it ;  and  the  covering  narrower  than  that 
he  can  wrap  himself  in  it." 

False  Projrfiets. 

Ezekiel  tells  us  that  the  word  of  the  Lord 
came  to  him,  saying,  Pf  Son  of  Man,  prophesy 
against  the  prophets  of  Israel  that  prophesy, 
and  say  unto  them  that  prophesy  out  of  their 
own  hearts,  Hear  ye  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God:  Woe  unto  the 
foolish  prophets  that  follow  their  own  spirit 
and  have  seen  nothing.  O  Israel,  thy 
prophets  are  like  the  foxes  in  the  desert. 
*     *     *     They  have  seen  vanity  and  lying 


Gbc  tH0e  of  TRiOtcuic  in  tbe  oio  Ccatamcnt.    193 

divination,  saying,  The  Lord  saith;  and  the 
Lord  hath  not  sent  them."  These  prophets 
were  endeavoring  to  soothe  the  people,  to 
cover  up  their  sins,  to  dissipate  their  fears 
of  retribution.  'They  have  seduced  my 
people,  saying,  peace,  when  there  is  no 
peace."  Then  Ezekiel  describes  their  work. 
They  are  like  foolish  masons  who  build  a 
wall  with  mortar  that  will  not  hold  the 
stones  together,  —  "untempered  mortar!" 
Can  such  work  last?  Can  such  a  structure 
stand?  w  Say  unto  them  which  daub  it  with 
untempered  mortar  that  it  shall  fall.  There 
shall  be  an  overflowing  shower;  and  ye,  O 
great  hail-stones,  shall  fall;  and  a  stormy 
wind  shall  rend  it.  Lo!  when  the  Avail  is 
fallen,  shall  it  not  be  said  unto  you,  Where 
is  the  daubing  wherewith  ye  have  daubed 
it?"  Did  ye  not  boast  of  your  mortar? 
Did  ye  not  promise  the  people  that  it  would 
hold?  Alas  for  you,  O  prophets!  Alas 
for  your  work!  r?  The  wall  is  no  more, 
neither  they  that  daubed  it;  to  wit,  the 
prophets  of  Israel  which  prophesy  concern- 
ing Jerusalem,  and  which  see  visions  of 
peace  for  her,  and  there  is  no  peace,  saith 
the  Lord." 


194  xait  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JSible. 

Mosl  contemptuously  docs  Isaiah  speak 
of  the  false  prophets:  "The  Lord  will  cut 
off  from  Israel,  head  and  tail,  branch  and 
root,  in  one  day.  The  ancient  and  honor- 
able, he  is  the  head;  and  the  prophet  that 
teacheth  lies,  he  is  the  tailP 

The  King  of  Assyria. 

Isaiah  ridicules  the  high  and  mighty  pre- 
tensions of  the  King  of  Assyria.  That 
monarch  boasts  of  his  achievements.  He 
takes  the  credit  of  all  to  himself.  He  wears 
the  glory  alone.  ?r  By  the  strength  of  my 
own  hand,  I  have  done  it,  and  by  my  wisdom; 
for  I  am  prudent;  and  I  have  removed  the 
bounds  of  the  people,  and  have  robbed  their 
treasures,  and  I  have  put  down  the  inhabi- 
tants like  a  valiant  man."  Falstaff  could  not 
proclaim  his  own  prowess,  in  more  bombastic 
style.  "  I  am  a  rogue,  if  I  were  not  at  half- 
sword  with  a  dozen  of  them  two  hours  to- 
gether. I  have  'scaped  by  miracle :  I  am 
eight  times  thrust  through  the  doublet;  four 
through  the  hose;  my  buckler  cut  through 
and  through;  my  sword  hacked  like  a  hand- 


Gbc  Tflee  of  Kfttcule  in  tbe  oic>  (Testament.   195 

saw.  I  never  dealt  better  since  I  was  a 
man/"  Now  let  the  Assyrian  resume  his 
parable:  "  And  my  hand  hath  found  as  a 
nest  the  riches  of  the  people;  and  as  one 
gathereth  eggs  that  are  left,  have  I 
gathered  all  the  earth:  and  there  was  none 
that  moved  the  wing,  or  opened  the  month, 
or  peeped."     Falstaffwill  match  him  again: 

*  There  is  not  a  dangerous  action  can  peep 
out  his  head,  but  I  am  thrust  upon  it.  AYell, 
I  can  not  last  for  ever;  but  it  was  always 
yet  the  trick  of  our  English  nation,  if  they 
have  a  good  thing,  to  make  it  too   common. 

*  *  *  I  would  to  God  my  name  were 
not  so  terrible  to  the  enemy  as  it  is!" 

The  prophet,  after  allowing  the  Assyrian 
to  sound  his  brazen  trumpet,  turns  upon 
him,  and  sarcastically  reminds  him  that  he 
is  simply  a  tool,  a  rod,  a  staff,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Lord,  and  that  he  has  of  himself 
accomplished  nothing:  "  Shall  the  art- 
boast  itself  against  him  that  heweth  there- 
with? or  shall  the  saw  magnify  itself 
against  him  that  shaJceth  it?  as  if  the  rod 
should  shake  itself  against  them  that  lift  it 
up,  or  as  if  the  staff  should  lift  itself  up  as 
if  it  were  no  wood ! " 


196  XUit  and  Ibumor  of  the  JBible. 


The    King   of  Babylon. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  passages  of 
invective  in  any  literature  is  that  in  which 
Isaiah  pictures  the  fall  of  the  King  of 
Babylon. 

He  begins  —  "How  hath  the  oppressor 
ceased!"  Then  he  sets  forth  the  joy  of  the 
earth  itself  over  the  discomfiture  of  him 
who  "  smote  the  people  in  wrath  with  a 
continual  stroke."  All  creation  is  glad. 
"  The  whole  earth  is  at  rest  and  is  quiet ; 
they  break  forth  into  singing.  Yea,  the 
fir-trees  rejoice  at  thee,  and  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  saying,  Since  thou  art  laid  down, 
no  feller  is  come  up  against  us."  This  is 
the  state  of  things  on  earth. 

There  is  commotion  in  the  lower  world, 
there  is  mockery  of  the  humiliated  monarch 
as  he  descends  among  the  shades.  "Hell 
from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee  to  meet 
thee  at  thy  coming;  it  stirreth  up  the  dead 
for  thee,  even  all  the  chief  ones  of  the 
earth ;  it  hath  raised  up  from  their  thrones 
all  the  kings  of  the  nations/' 


Zbc  'Use  of  IRtctculc  ill  the  Olo  (Testament.     1:,~ 

The  shadowy,  ghostly  company  gather 
about  the  fallen  potentate  and  taunt  him: 
K  Art  thou  also  become  weak  as  we?     Art 

thou  become  like  unto  us?  Thy  pomp  is 
brought  down  to  the  grave,  and  the  noise 
of  thy  viols;  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee, 

and  the  worms  cover  thee.  How  art  thou 
fallen  from  heaven,  O  Lucifer,  son  of  the 
morning:!  how  art  thou  cut  down  to  the 
ground  which  did  weaken  the  nations! 
F<»r  thou  hast  said  in  thine  heart,  I  will 
ascend  into  heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne 
above  the  stars  of  God:  I  will  be  like  the 
Most  High!  Yet  thou  shalt  be  brought 
down  to  hell,  to  the  sides  of  the  pit.  They 
that  see  thee  shall  narrowly  look  upon  thee 
and  consider  thee,  saying,  Is  this  the  man 
that  made  the  earth  to  tremble,  that  did 
shake  kingdoms,  that  made  the  world  as  a 
wilderness,  and  destroyed  the  cities 
thereof?" 

Then  the  prophet  concludes:  "All  the 
kings  of  the  nations,  even  all  of  them,  lie  in 
glory,  every  one  in  his  own  house.  But 
thou  art  cast  out  of  thy  grave  like  an 
abominable  branch,    and  as  the  raiment  of 


198  xUit  ano  Ibumcr  of  tbe  MMc. 

those  that  arc  slain,  thrust  through  with  a 
sword,  that  go  down  to  the  si  ones  of  the 
pit,  as  a  carcass  trodden  under  feet!" 

It  is  truthfully  remarked  that  rfkeen 
thrusts  and  tingling*  ironies  will  rouse  the 
slumbering,  startle  the  stolid,  shame  the 
profligate,  and  set  the  thoughtless  to  think- 
ing. While  it  is  true  that  ridicule  is  not  the 
test  of  truth,  it  is  equally  certain  that  it  is 
only  by  ridicule  that  many  dull-witted  and 
sin-steeped  persons  can  be  made  to  see  and 
feel  the  truth.  It  would  be  well  for  man- 
kind in  general,  if  all  could  be  made  to  feel 
that  wickedness  is  as  contemptible  as  it  is 
hateful.  There  is  a  stupidity  in  sin,  a  thick, 
rhinoceros  skin  of  insensibility,  which  only 
the  feather-winged  arrows  of  wit  can  pierce. 
Iniquity  has  a  pachydermatous  hide,  and  can 
feel  only  when  coals  of  fiery  ridicule  are  laid 
upon  its  back,  and  blown  by  the  breath  of 
laughter," 


IX.    THE  USE  OF  RIDICULE  IN  THE   NEW 
TESTAMENT. 

"  If  our  Savior  himself  never  laughed,  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  that  the  bystanders  did  not  laugh,  or  at  least 
smile,  when  he  tore  the  mask  from  the  hypocritical 
pharisees  who  laid  heavy  burdens  on  men's  shoulders 
which  they  themselves  would  not  move  with  their  fingers, 
and  devoured  widows'  houses,  even  while  for  a  pretence 
they  made  long  prayers." — Matthews. 


(199) 


THE   USE   OF   RIDICULE   IN  THE 
NEW  TESTAMENT. 

"Rebuke  them  sharply,  that  they  may  be  sound  in  the 
faith."— Pan?. 

The  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  who 
used  the  glittering  lances  of  wit  against  the 
foes  of  truth  and  righteousness,  had  worthy 
successors  in  evangelists  and  apostles,  and 
in  Jesus  himself.  These  men  were  indig- 
nant at  hypocrisy  and  wrong-doing;  they 
looked  with  scorn  upon  the  swelling  preten- 
sions of  the  religious  leaders;  they  expostu- 
lated with  affectionate  earnestness  and 
severity  with  their  own  brethren  who 
suffered  themselves  to  be  led  astray.  In- 
dignation is  not  necessarily  wrong  or  un- 
christian. The  faculty  of  indignation  is  an 
essential  part  of  human  nature,  and  when 
aroused  against  evil  its  operations  are  benefi- 
cent. It  in  no  wise  diminishes  the  reverence 
we  feel  for  Jesus,  that  he  made  a  scourge 
of  cords  and  lashed  the  traders  and  money- 
changers from  the  temple! 

(201) 


202  xuit  an&  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBible. 

Ruskin  says,  "There  is  no  black  horse  in 
the  chariot  of  the  soul.     One  of  the  driver's 

worst  faults  is  starving  his  horses;  another 
is  not  breaking  them  early  enough  ;  but  they 
are  all  good.  Take,  for  example,  one 
usually  thought  of  as  wholly  evil  —  that  of 
anger,  leading  to  vengeance.  I  believe  it  to 
be  quite  one  of  the  crowning  wickednesses 
of  this  age,  that  we  have  starved  and  chilled 
our  faculty  of  indignation,  and  neither  desire 
nor  dare  to  punish  crimes  justly." 

This  faculty  of  righteous  wrath  when  it 
takes  shape  in  irony,  ridicule,  sarcasm,  in- 
vective, is  the  mightiest  foe  of  vanity, 
hypocrisy,  pretension,  corruption,  and  vice. 
By  its  sword  do  they  perish.  The  teachers 
and  writers  of  New  Testament  times, 
did  not  disdain  to  use  in  their  work  every 
instrument  of  power  known  to  the  human 
mind.  From  their  own  stand-point,  at  least, 
they  had  many  false  notions  and  customs  to 
combat;  they  had  the  ignorant,  prejudiced, 
officious  and  fault-finding  to  deal  with;  they 
were  harrassed  by  narrow  and  persistent 
opponents;  they  had  to  do  battle  at  every 
step.     They   might  have  exclaimed  with  a 


XTbc  Xlsc  of  TRtMculc  in  tbc  IRcw  Ccstamcnt.  &08 

modern  writer,  "  Lei  us  be  thankful  thai  \\<i 
have  in  wit  a  power  before  which  the  pride 
of  wealth,  and  the  insolence  of  office  are 
abased;  which  can  transfix  bigotrj  and 
tyranny  with  arrows  of  lightning;  which 
can  strike  its  object  over  thousands  of  miles 
of  space,  across  thousands  of  years  of  lime; 
and  which  through  its  sway  over  an  univer- 
sal weakness  of  man, is  an  everlasting'  instru- 
ment to  make  the  bad  tremble  and  the  foolish 


wince." 


The  Choice  of  the  Jews. 

There  is  an  excellent  piece  of  quiet  sar- 
casm in  John's  account  of  the  trial  of  Jesus. 
He  first  gives  us  Pilate's  conclusion  in  these 
words:  "And  when  he  had  said  this,  he 
went  out  again  unto  the  Jews  and  saith:  I. 
find  no  fault  in  him  at  all;  but  ye  have  a 
custom  that  T  release  unto  you  one  at  the 
passover;  will  ye  therefore  that  I  release 
unto  you  the  king  of  the  Jews?"  Pilate  is 
willing;  he  pronounces  Jesus  innocent;  but 
tin-  crowd  clamor  and  refuse.  "Then  cried 
they   all    again,   saying,   Not    this    man,    but 


204  •QDlit  ano  Ibumor  of  tbc  JBiblc. 

Barabbas."  John  closes  the  account  with 
an  inoffensive  looking  sentence,  but  one  so 
full  of  bitter  satire,  that  we  can  not  help 
thinking  of  the  time  when  he  wished  to  call 
down  fire  from  heaven.  Jesus  is  an  innocent 
man  —  so  pronounced  by  the  governor — but 
the  Jews  cry  out  for  his  blood.  They  want 
Barabbas  released.  And  who  is  Barabbas? 
Who  is  this  popular  idol?  "Who  is  the  man 
that  the  people  prefer  to  Jesus  the  upright 
and  spotless?  With  a  rapier-like  thrust, 
John  pierces  the  heart  of  that  iniquitous 
choice,  w  Now  Barabbas  teas  a  robber."  It 
is  a  stroke  worthy  the  "  Son  of  thunder." 

The   Weakness  of  Pilate. 

But  think  not,  O  Pilate,  that  thou  shalt 
escape.  The  same  hand  that  cast  the  first 
javelin,  will  also  send  one  to  pierce  thy 
heart.  In  the  next  chapter,  John  tells  us 
how,  up  to  a  certain  point,  Pilate  sought  to 
release  Jesus.  He  was  convinced  of  his 
innocence,  and  did  not  wish  him  put  to 
death.  But  there  is  a  weak  spot  in  Pilate's 
nature,  and  John  points  it  out  with  infallible 


Ubc  X\ec  of  Ridicule  in  tbc  Hew  Ceatament.    205 

precision.  Pilate  is  no1  the  man  to  stand 
for  the  right  at  personal  sacrifice.  When 
his  own  interests  are  at  stake,  lie  will  per- 
mit injustice  and  cruel  wrong  to  others. 
Why  does  he  deliver  Jesus  to  the  cross? 
John  is  determined  that  all  the  world  shall 
know.  ?  The  Jews  cried  out,  saving,  If 
thou  let  this  man  go,  thou  art  not  Caesar's 
friend;  whosoever  maketh  himself  a  king, 
speaketh  against  Caesar."  My  lord  Pilate 
is  not  proof  against  this  insinuation.  He 
can  not  face  the  possibility  of  losing  his 
office.  "  When  Pilate,  therefore,  heard  that 
saying,  he  Drought  Jesus  forth.  *  *  * 
Then  delivered  he  him  therefore  unto  them 
to  be  crucified."  John  has  stamped  Pilate 
as  a  weak,  vacillating  and  selfish  ruler;  and 
his  portrait,  marked  with  these  features, 
has  been  transmitted,  to  all  ages. 

Paul  and  his  Detractors. 

Perhaps  none  of  the  great  characters  of 
New  Testament  times  were  so  beset  by  foes 
of  all  kinds  as  was  Paul.     He  has  himself 

assured  us  that  he  was  often  in  perils  from 


206  TOt  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBtblc. 

his  own  countrymen,  and  in  perils  from 
false  brethren.  He  was  denounced  by 
priests  and  scribes,  and  opposed  by  upstarts 
in  the  very  churches  he  had  founded.  In 
replying  to  arguments  and  meeting  objec- 
tions he  sometimes  showed  his  mastery  of 
more  than  one  form  of  wit,  —  although  the 
form  he  most  frequently  used  was  irony. 

By  many  his  preaching  was  characterized 
as  "  foolishness."  There  was  nothing  in  it 
to  commend  it  to  the  Jews  who  "  required  a 
sign,"  or  to  the  Greeks,  "  who  sought  after 
wisdom."  'Very  well,"  is  his  reply,  "fool- 
ish it  may  be,  but  after  all  it  has  accom- 
plished more  than  either  Jew  or  Greek  has 
been  able  to  do  for  the  world.  c  Where  is 
the  wise?  Where  is  the  scribe?  Where  is 
the  disputer  of  this  world?  Hath  not  God 
made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world?' 
What  has  it  achieved?  Where  are  its  monu- 
ments? r  For  after  that  the  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the  foolish- 
ness of  (just  such)  preaching  (as  mine)  to 
save  them  that  believe.'  This  foolishness 
has  lifted  men  from  vile  and  sinful  lives  into 
righteousness  and  honor.     Have  your  own 


Gbc  Xiec  of  Ridicule  in  tbe  iKicw  Testament.    207 

way  about  it,  0  Greeks  and  Jew6;  I  will  be 
accounted  a  fool  if  you  will,  and  am  willing 
to  let  my  words  be  stigmatized  as  folly;  but 
you  a\  ill  find  that  r  God  hath  chosen  tbe 
foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
wise;  God  hath  chosen  tbe  weak  things  of 
the  world  to  confound  the  tilings  that  are 
mighty;  and  base  things  of  tbe  world,  and 
things  that  are  despised  bath  God  chosen; 
yea,  and  things  that  are  not,  to  bring  to 
nought  things  that  are/  I  accept  tbe  low 
estimate  you  put  upon  me  and  my  work, 
but  I  triumph  over  you  and  your  work, 
however  exalted.  Results  shall  determine. 
This  is  glorious  folly!" 

In  writing  to  the  Corinthians,  he  says  of 
certain  members  of  the  church  who  thought 
that  in  spiritual  things  they  were  superior 
to  himself,  "Xow  some  are  puffed  up,  as 
though  I  Avoid d  not  come  to  you.  But  I 
aa  ill  come  to  you  shortly,  if  the  Lord  will, 
and  will  know,  not  the  speech  of  than  which 
an  puffed  up,  but  the  power." 

To  those  thus  puffed  up,  he  addresses 
himself  in  the  following  ironical  strain: 
"Xoav  ye  are  full,  now  ye  are  rich;  ye  have 


208  rat  anD  Ibumor  of  tbe  JGfble. 

reigned  as  kings  without  us;  and  I  would 
that  ye  did  reign,  that  Ave  also  might  reign 
with  you.  For  I  think  that  God  has  set 
forth  us  the  apostles  last.  *  *  .  *  We 
are  fools  for  Christ's  sake,  hut  ye  are  wise 
in  Christ;  Ave  are  weak,  but  ye  are  strong; 
ye  are  honorable,  but  we  are  despised." 

He  denounces  certain  teachers  who  were 
sowing  the  seeds  of  discord  among  his 
churches,  as  "false  apostles,  deceitful 
workers,  transforming  themselves  into 
apostles  of  Christ.  And  no  marvel;  for 
Satan  himself  is  transformed  into  an  angel 
of  light.  Therefore,  it  is  no  great  thing  if 
his  ministers  also  be  transformed  as  the 
ministers  of  righteousness;  whose  end  shall 
be  according  to  their  works."  Such  teachers 
as  these  pronounced  Paul  a  fool  and  did 
everything  to  bring  his  work  into  contempt. 
"Very  good,"  says  Paul  to  the  Corinthians, 
K  receive  me  then  as  a  fool,"  and  then  pro- 
ceeding, with  his  favorite  irony,  "For  ye 
suffer  fools  gladly,  seeing  ye  yourselves  are 
wise  !  " 

How  scathing  is  his  rebuke  to  those  who 
misrepresented     his     doctrine:       :fWe     be 


Zbc  Use  of  iRtMcuic  in  tbe  Mew  (Testament.  209 

slanderously  reported,  and  some  affirm  that 
we  say.  Let  us  do  evil  that  good  may 
come!  —  whose  condemnation  is  just/' 
This  is  his  only  answer  to  evil  tongues. 

It  is  conceded  by  the  besl  authorities  that 
Paul  did  not  write  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  but  there  is  a  passage  in  that 
letter  not  unlike  him,  —  the  rebuke  to  those 
who  ought  to  he  strong",  manly  and  intel- 
ligent Christians,  but  who  have  not  ye1 
gotten  out  of  their  swaddling  clothes: 
"For  when  for  the  time  ye  ought  to  be 
teachers,  ye  have  need  that  one  teach  you 
again  which  be  the  first  principles  of  the 
oracles  of  God;  and  are  become  such  as 
have  need  of  milk  and  not  of  strong  meat. 
For  every  one  that  useth  milk  is  unskillful 
in  the  word  of  righteousness;  for  he  is  but 
a  babe.  But  strong  matt  belongeth  to  those 
that  are  of  full  age,  even  those  who  by  reason 
of  use  have  their  senses  exercised  to  discern 
both  good  and  evil." 

Similar  to  this  is  Paul's  treatment  of  the 
Corinthians  when  they  were  divided  in  their 
allegiance,  some  claiming  to  belong  to  one 
teacher  and  some  to   another.     First  Paul 


210  vait  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  ttible. 

himself  had  been  there  and  taught  among 
them  in  that  broad  and  liberal  spirit  which 
always  characterized  him.  lie  made  very 
little  of  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  very 
much  of  charity  and  brotherhood.  Then 
came  Peter  who  was  always  more  narrow 
than  Paul,  but  very  intense.  Paid  was  a 
broad  river,  Peter  a  mountain  torrent.  Peter 
never  completely  freed  himself  from  the 
bondage  of  the  Jewish  system,  and  he  in- 
sisted upon  some  of  the  things  that  Paul 
discarded.  Soon  a  party  was  formed.  Some 
thought,  no  doubt,  that  Paid  was  too  far 
away  from  the  Jewish  creed,  that  he  was 
not  strict  enough,  that  it  was  perhaps  safer 
to  take  Peter  as  a  guide;  so  Avhile  some 
said,  "I  am  of  Paul,"  others  said,  w  I  am  of 
(  Vphas."  Then  came  Apollos  who  is  de- 
scribed as  being  "  very  eloquent."  When 
he  stood  up  to  speak,  many  said,  "He  beats 
both  Paul  and  Peter;  I  am  of  Apollos."  So 
there  were  "envvings  and  strifes  and  divis- 
ions." Paul  ridicules  the  Corinthians  for 
these  childish  quarrels,  and  says  that  he 
must  still  speak  to  them  as  to  "babes/*  "I  have 
fed  you  with  milk   and   not    with    meat;   for 


Cbc  XXec  of  Ridicule  in  tbe  iRcw  (Testament.   -1 1 

hitherto  ye  were  not  able  to  bear  it,  neither 
tj< t  now  are  yt  able!" 

Examples  from  other  Apostles. 

The  epistle  of  James  that  has  furnished 
illustrations  for  some  of  the  preceding  chap- 
ters, shall  yield  one  for  this,  in  its  notice  of 
a  grave  abuse  that  existed  in  the  early 
churches,  and  that  has  not  entirely  died  out 
of  modern  churches. 

KMy  brethren,  have  not  the  faith  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  of  glory,  in 
respect  of  persons.  For  if  there  come  into 
your  assembly,  a  man  with  a  gold  ring,  in 
goodly  apparel,  and  there  come  in  also  a 
poor  man  in  vile  raiment;  and  ye  have 
respect  to  him  that  weareth  the  gay  clothing, 
and  say  unto  him,  Sit  thou  here  in  a  good 
place  (Take  this  high-priced  and  fashiona- 
ble pew,  where  you  can  listen  to  the  gospel 
in  luxurious  ease,  and  at  the  same  time  daz- 
zle the  eyes  of  those  in  neighboring  pews 
with  the  latest  fashions),  but  say  to  the 
poor,  Stand  thou  here,  or  sit  here  under 
my  foot-stool   (or  go  up  in  the  gallery),  are 


212  xuit  ano  *  urn  or  of  tbe  JGfble. 

ye  not  then    partial  in  yourselves,  and  are 
become  judges  of  evil  thoughts?" 

Peter  silences  certain  ones  who  com- 
plained of  persecution,  by  saying,  ff  If  ye 
are  reproached  for  the  name  of  Christ,  happy 
are  ye  (that  is  nothing  to  complain  of),  but 
let  none  of  you  suffer  as  a  murderer,  or  as  a 
thief,  or  as  an  evil-doer,  or  as  a  busy-body 
in  other  men's  matters  (if  any  one  of  you 
suffers  in  such  a  character,  he  deserves  the 
lash)."  In  either  case,  there  is  nothing  to 
justify  your  outcry. 

He  also  denounces  certain  ones  who  have 
forsaken  the  right  way  and  gone  astray  as 
"  wells  without  water,  clouds  without  rain 
that  are  carried  of  a  tempest."  They 
"speak  great  swelling  words  of  vanity, 
promising  liberty  while  they  are  themselves 
the  slaves  of  corruption."  And  then  he 
fastens  the  reproach  of  their  apostasy  upon 
them  with  what  Falstaff  would  call  a  "  most 
unsavory  simile,"  —  ff  It  is  happened  to  them 
according  to  the  true  proverb,  The  dog  is 
turned  to  his  own  vomit  again,  and  the  sow 
that  was  washed  to  her  wallowing  in  the 
mire."  Such  are  those  who  turn  back  to 
error  from  the  paths  of  truth. 


Zbc  tlsc  of  TRiMculc  in  tbc  iRcw  Testament.  218 

Tn  much  the  same  strain  does  elude  write 
to  the  same  class:  "These  are  spots  in  your 
feasts  of  charity  5  clouds  withoul  water,  car- 
ried about  of  the  winds;  trees  whose  fruit 
withereth  without  fruit, twice  dead,  plucked 
up  by  the  roots;  raging  waves  of  the  sea, 
foaming*  out  their  own  shame;  wandering 
stars  to  whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of 
darkness  forever!  " 

John  wrote  to  the  Laodiceans:  "r  I  know 
thy  works  that  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot; 
so  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  nei- 
ther cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my 
mouth.  Thou  sa}  est,  I  am  rich  and  increased 
with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing;  and 
knowest  not  that  thou  art  wretched  and  mis- 
erable and  poor  and  blind  and  naked!" 

The  Laodiceans  needed  the  familiar 
prayer  of  Burns : 

"  O  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us, 

To  see  oursel's  as  ithers  see  us  ; 
It  would  frae  mony  a  blunder  free  us, 
And  foolish  notion  !" 

They  needed  a  look  into  the  glass  of  Lao, 
which  revealed  the  blemishes  of  the  soul, 
how  fair  soever  the  exterior. 


214  -edit  anfc  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBiblc. 

Christ's    Use  of  Invective. 

Even  more  severe  than  his  apostles  in  his 
use  of  denunciation,  was  the  Great  Master 
himself.  In  his  controversies  with  the  rec- 
ognized religious  leaders  of  his  day,  he 
heaped  eoals  of  fire  upon  their  claims  and 
teachings  and  practices. 

:?  Ye  leave  the  commandment  of  God  and 
hold  fast  to  the  tradition  of  men,"  he  says 
to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees;  and  then  adds, 
with  terrible  irony, f'  Full  well  ye  reject  the 
commandment  of  God,  that  ye  may  keep 
your  tradition/'  Surely,  when  the  com- 
mandments of  God  were  placed  side  by 
side  with  rabbinical  glosses,  they  were  in 
an  extremely  cruel  position! 

Xo  passage  of  invective,  in  any  litera- 
ture, is  more  crushing  than  this:  f  AVoe 
unto  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites! 
for  ye  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
against  men;  for  ye  neither  go  in  your- 
selves, neither  suffer  ye  them  that  are 
entering  to  go  in.  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!     For  ye  compass 


Che  TH&e  of  IRtCnculc  in  the  IRcw  (Testament.    215 

sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte,  and 
when  he  is  made,  ye  make  him  two-fold 
more  the  child  of  hell  than  yourselves. 
*  *  *  Woe  unto  yon,  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, hypocrites!  for  ye  devour  widows' 
houses  and  for  a  pretense  make  long  prayers; 
therefore  ye  shall  receive  the  greater  dam- 
nation. *  *  *  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for  ye  make 
clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter,  but 
within  they  are  full  of  extortion  and  excess. 
Blind  Pharisees!  cleanse  first  that  which  is 
within  the  cup  and  platter,  that  the  outside 
of  them  may  be  clean  also!  Woe  unto  you, 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for  ye 
are  like  unto  whited  sepulchers  which,  in- 
deed, appear  beautiful  outward,  but  within 
are  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  all  unclean- 
ness.  Even  so  ye  also  outwardly  appear 
righteous  unto  men,  but  within  ye  are  full 
of  hypocrisy  and  iniquity.  *  *  *  Woe 
unto  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  for  ye  are 
as  graves  which  appear  not,  and  men  walk 
over  them  and  are  not  aware  of  them." 

But  not  only  the  leaders,  but  the  people 
also,    fall    under    his   lash.       "'The    men    of 


216  Mit  ano  Ibumor  of  tbe  JBlble. 

^uneven  shall  rise  up  in  judgment  with  this 
generation  and  shall  condemn  it,  because 
they  repented  at  the  preaching  of  Jonas; 
and  behold  a  greater  than  Jonas  is  here. 
The  queen  of  the  South  shall  rise  up  in  the 
judgment  with  this  generation  and  shall 
condemn  it;  for  she  came  from  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom 
of  Solomon;  and  behold  a  greater  than 
Solomon  is  here!  "When  the  unclean  spirit 
is  gone  out  of  a  man,  he  walketh  through 
dry  places,  seeking  rest  and  findeth  none. 
Then  he  saith,  I  will  return  to  my  house 
from  whence  I  came  out;  and  when  he  is 
come,  he  findeth  it  empty,  swept  and  gar- 
nished. Then  goeth  he  and  taketh  with 
him  seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than 
himself,  and  they  enter  in  and  dwell  there; 
and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than 
the  first.  Even  so  shall  it  be  also  unto  this 
wicked  generation ! " 

Upon  another  occasion,  he  upbraided  the 
cities  in  which  he  had  wrought  and  preached. 
"AVoe  unto  thee,  Chorazin;  woe  unto  thee 
Bethsaida;  for  if  the  mighty  works  had 
been   done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  which  have 


Cbc  TH0C  of  iivioicuic  in  tbc  Hew  CTcatament.    217 

been  done  in  von,  they  had  a  great  while 
ago  repented  sitting  in  .sackcloth  and  ashes. 
Bui  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and 
Sidon  at  the  judgment  than  for  yon.  And 
thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  to 
heaven,  shalt  be  thrust  down  to  hell!" 

Does  it  seem  strange  that  such  language 
should  have  come  from  the  lips  of  Jesus? 
Should  we  not  rather  have  expected  it  from 
the  stern  Baptist,  Ins  forerunner,  who 
denounced  the  "brood  of  vipers"  that  came 
to  his  baptism?  Is  it  inconsistent  with  that 
spirit  of  love  which  we  believe  to  have  been 
the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Christ? 
But  love  is  not  mere  invert ebral  amiability 
or  moon-faced  complacency.  By  as  much 
as  love  is  strong  and  true,  by  so  much  does 
it  seek,  at  any  cost  and  by  any  means,  to 
remove  the  faults  and  follies  of  its  object. 
If  the  lash  be  needed,  the  lash  it  will  take. 
"He  who  has  never  experienced  the  affec- 
tionate bitterness  of  love,"  says  V.  W.  Rob- 
ertson, "who  has  never  known  how  earnest 
irony  and  passionate  sarcasm  may  be  the 
very  language  of  love  in  its  deepest,  saddest 


218  lUit  ano  f>umot  of  tbe  JBiblc. 

moods  is  utterly  incapable  of  even    jinl 
this  passion!" 


Here  the  writer's  task  ends.     The  subject 
may    be    capable   of  much   more   elaborate 

treatment;  it  would  be  claiming  too  much 
to  suppose  that  these  chapters  exhaust  it. 
The  writer  trusts,  however,  that  he  may 
have  suggested  a  line  of  study  to  others, 
as  it  was  first  suggested  to  him.  The 
poetry,  the  dramatic  portions,  the  oratory  of 
the  Scriptures,  are  unsurpassed.  Viewed 
simply  as  a  literary  work,  the  Bible  is  the 
most  interesting  in  the  whole  realm  of  let- 
ters. It  becomes  increasingly  interesting, 
as  its  great  human  elements  are  recognized. 
Over  history,  biography,  and  most  serious 
discourse,  play  the  soft  gleams  of  healthful 
humor  and  the  lightning-like  bolts  of  sar- 
casm and  wit.  The  book  touches  human 
nature  at  all  points.  The  more  we  view  it 
as  "literature,"  the  less  as  "dogma,"  the 
firmer  will  become  its  hold  upon  the  heart 
of  man. 

That  these  fragmentary  studies  may  help 


Zbc  "Wee  of  Ridicule  in  tbe  iflcw  (Testament    219 

some  one  to  appreciate  his  Bible  better  and 
enjoy  it  more,  is  the  writer's  wish.  He  may 
also  express,  in  closing,  the  hope  that  who- 
ever has  taken  the  trouble  to  read  these 
pages  may  have  found  them  tree  from  that 
which  lie  disclaimed  at  the  outset — irrever- 
ence; as  he  believes  them  to  be  free  from 
the  other  extreme,  superstition. 


Date  Due 


V*    - 


•I) 


